


A New Kind Of Science

by GracieHoltzbertTrash715



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-08 08:51:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 46
Words: 78,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7751140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GracieHoltzbertTrash715/pseuds/GracieHoltzbertTrash715
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It's irrational for super scientists to believe in love." They believe in the idea of people THINKING they're in love, but there is no such thing. Is there? Maybe just a crush. (Jillian Holtzmann/Erin Gilbert from Ghostbusters Reboot 2016) I OWN NOTHING</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Dance

"Hey, Holtzmann!"

"Huh? What?" The quirky blonde snapped out of her daze upon hearing Gilbert's voice. Her legs, which had been propped up on the lab table in front of her, fell and her feet uncomfortably slammed down on the floor. She let out a small moan, hoping Erin didn't hear her brief moment of vulnerability. Her right hand, which held her chin, landed on the counter and she looked to the five foot, five inch tall brunette who stood by the entrance of her laboratory on the second floor.

Erin pointed to the door directly behind her before she spoke. "Patty, Abby, and I were gonna go get some food. Wanna tag along?" She awkwardly shrugged her shoulders after asking.

Staring at her fellow ghost buster through the yellow goggles she wore, Jillian pondered the thought. She looked up to the ceiling while tapping on her chin as if she were intensely and carefully thinking about her answer. "Uhhhhhhh..." She hummed the entire time she decided. Erin began to feel uncomfortable waiting for the response and she bit her bottom lip, wondering if she should say something else. Her hips began to sway as if she were ready to just turn around and leave when Holtzmann changed the noise she was making to an almost awkward scream while she let out an elongated 'I.'

"Kevin might be coming?" Erin decided to add, hoping it would urge the other female in the room to finally say an actual word with consonants.

Jillian's eyes flicked right to the brunette and her eyes squinted with a hint of a fake smile plastered on her pursed lips. She sucked in her cheeks, almost making her face like a fish. The half-grin that came across Erin's face when she mentioned the six foot three, well-built imbecile irritated Jillian and she finally decided on an answer, though when she spoke, it seemed a bit too obnoxious and bitter. But Erin didn't notice at all, as it seemed it was just Holtzmann being the strange woman she was. "No, I'm fine. I'll just eat the week old, stale goldfish I kept in my locker."

"Um?" Gilbert's brows furrowed with confusion and she slowly turned her body at a ninety degree angle like she were about to leave. But she stopped. "You sure? We're probably gonna have some drinks." Her serious expression turned to a smirk as her voice went up an octave. "Maybe a little dancing." She danced a little, demonstrating her strange, but addictive moves. She knew the blonde absolutely loved to dance and she would no doubt accept the invitation.

The intelligent weirdo watched the woman move for a few seconds before her face lit up with joy and excitement. She scrunched her nose and clapped her hands together once with a mild 'Ha!' but unfortunately, was not going to change her mind. "No, no. I shouldn't. I should really stay here and finish drawing up some blue prints for my new toys."

The former professor's mood immediately changed upon the response and she stopped dancing, her body returning to her awkward stance. "Oh. Okay. You're gonna miss out though." She turned to leave, but added, "Especially if Kevin's coming."

"Oh!" Jillian exclaimed from behind the departing scientist. She sent her an incredibly fake laugh as if she were pretending to agree that she would, in fact, miss out. Though deep down, she felt she were doing herself a favor. The moment Erin was out of sight, Holtzmann mumbled to herself with her fake smile, still glued to her mouth. "Ah, well. I highly disagree with you there." Her smile somewhat faded and she began to move some tools around to make it seem like she were keeping herself busy. "I just hope that feebleminded he-man is as dumb as I think he is." She was, of course, referring to the hopes that he wouldn't pick up on any of Erin's 'subtle' hints.

"What was that?" Erin's head suddenly popped up, looking around the door into Jillian's 'office.'

"What?" Holtzmann jumped, dropping a piece of equipment. "Oh, nothing. I didn't, uhhh...I was just testing my new, umm...Ectoplasmic, uh...Electrolarynx! Helps us talk to the ghosts we can't see." She quickly bent over, picking up the item she had dropped, which was, in fact, NOT an Ectoplasmic Electrolarynx. There was no such thing! But she still pretended to speak into it anyways. "Hello? Any spirits on the other side? Oooooo!" She chuckled at herself at the end and shook her head no.

"Uh. Isn't that just a wrench?" Gilbert wondered aloud, staring at the device in the woman's hand.

"Um, no. No it is not." Jill lied. "It is more than that. Which you will see once I finally get these blueprints done." The blonde hinted at wanting Erin to leave and succeeded.

"Oh. Um...Okay. I'll, uh, see you later." Gilbert awkwardly turned and left again, shaking her head at the strangeness that was Holtzmann, but admiring the uniqueness in her colleague.

"Hey, Erin. We good to go?" Abby wondered when her best friend joined herself, Kevin, and Patty downstairs by the ghostmobile. "Where's Holtzy?"

"Not coming." The taller brunette answered with a bit of dissatisfaction. She actually really wanted to jam out with Jillian. She shrugged.

"What? Why?" Abby wondered.

"I don't know. I guess she has some blueprints to finish up? Or something?"

"Blueprints?" Kevin leaned against the former hearse. "You mean like the cartoon dog? I can help her find them!" The secretary suddenly got excited, getting blueprints mixed up with the children's television special, 'Blue's Clues.'

"Um?" Erin began, looking to Abby and Patty for help. "N-no?"

"No, Kevin. Why don't we let Jillian do this one on her own, okay?" Abby strangely suggested.

"Ah. Okay." Kevin responded with disappointment in his tone. But his sadness was soon turned to hopeful contentment with a large grin as he pushed up his lens-less glasses. "Oh, hey! Can I drive?"

"Uhh..." Abby thought about it.

"Not today, man. I already called it!" Patty smiled through her helpful lie, not wanting to repeat the last destructive time he drove the hearse. For a man who could ride a motorcycle well, he doesn't do too well on four wheels. Abby let out a sigh of relief when she wasn't the one who had to say no to him. Again.

"What? I never heard you call shotgun!" Kevin, once again, got a phrase mixed up with another, but the girls had been around him so long, they were starting to get used to it.

Both Patty and Abby let out soft groans and Abby's eyes widened with frustration at his lack of intelligence. She pinched the bridge of her nose before replying. "Welp! She did! She called it!" She over-excessively nodded.

"I did." Patty nodded as well, putting both arms up in defense.

"I heard it!" Erin jumped in.

"Ah. Shucks! Okay. Maybe next time." Kevin was also annoyingly chipper, but the girls put up with him because of his gorgeousness and their undying hope that soon he'd suddenly retain their intelligence as if it were contagious. Erin walked by him, smiling up at him and proudly patting his muscular chest.

"Yeah. Maybe next time." She kept her hand on his right peck longer than socially acceptable. She waited, looking into his icy blue eyes, hoping he'd move in for a kiss or even reach up and hold her hand for a second, but...nothing. She took in a deep breath and continued to pass him so she could get in the backseat of the car.

Abby walked around to the opposite side of the car and opened the door to join Gilbert in the back. "You know, Kevin. You do get the best seat in the front with the driver." She tried to shed some more light on the subject before getting in herself.

"Hmm..." He changed his posture, standing up more straight and smirking. "She is right." He said and he finally got into the passenger seat, unaware that THAT was called 'shotgun.'

Patty was left, standing outside the car, looking back up the stairs and hoping Holtzmann would change her mind and join them last minute. But after a few seconds with no Holtzy, she sighed and got in the driver's seat.

Later that night, Jill had fallen asleep at her table. Her face was leaning against it, her mouth wide open with short, breathy snores escaping her petite body. Her arms dangled under the table and her legs barely held her up as she leaned far forward in her stool. A small jolt shook throughout her body and she twitched, causing her mouth to close, but her snoring continued. Patty slowly ascended the stairs in the former firestation, heading up to see her friend as she noticed the second floor lights still on through the window when she arrived outside. The moment she walked into Jillian's lab, she attempted to wake the blonde. "Hey, Holtz?" She said, approaching the limp body at the table. "Holtz!" She repeated a bit louder. Once she stopped right across from the scientist, she shouted as loud as possible. "HOLTZY!"

"What?! I'm up! I finished my homework!" Jillian exclaimed upon her slumber being abrupted. She looked around immediately recalling where she was and looking up at the tall, African-American woman who woke her. "Oh, Patty." She tiredly smiled, clearly not fully awake yet. "Patty, Patty, Patty. How was the dancing and shaking and grooving and shaking?" She seemed as though she were about to fall back to sleep, but Patty snapped loudly in her face., waking her up more. She widened her own eyes, forcing them to stay open. "What are you doing back so early?" Holtzmann drunkenly smiled.

"Eh, I wasn't really feelin' it tonight, so I took a taxi back here. Plus, I came to see how you're doin'?" The former MTA employee confessed.

"What? Me? I'm good. I'm good. I'm perfect." She stood up, waking herself up some more. She stretched her arms up over her head and let out a loud yell, as she does when she's tired, emotional, confused, or frustrated. "So, how was dancing with Erin, and Abby, and Erin, and the giant bean bag chair?" She weirdly reached up to pull her own hair in one spot and slammed her hand back down on the desk beside her. After doing so, she sent Patty a wide grin.

"It was fine, I guess. Abby and I didn't really do much dancing." Patty smiled, thinking about the show she had seen tonight. "We were having more fun watching Erin fail to get a kiss from Kevin while they danced together." The taller of the two laughed at the sight. "And she tried, girl. I mean, she really tried. Five times. It was epic. You would've loved to see it. It was hilarious!"

Holtzmann bent over at the waist while she listened to Patty's laughter and she rocked back and forth on her heels, wondering when it was going to stop. Eventually, she stood up straight and slammed her fist on the table beside her once again, this time accidentally hitting the end of that wrench from earlier and making it fly into the air, almost hitting Patty in the face. Tolan dodged the tool and her eyes widened as she watched it fall to the floor.

"Good!" Jillian shouted before doing her fake, bitter laugh. "I'm glad you had a good time!" She took off her yellow goggles and held them up in front of her face as if she were holding a fish she had just caught. Patty stared in confusion and watched as Holtzmann let go of the pair of goggles and allowed them to fall straight to the floor beneath them. "I'm gonna head home." The socially awkward blondie unexpectedly added in and she walked around her table, right passed Patty and headed down the stairs to get a cab. Patty stood in the lab alone, in shock, as she watched her best friend leave with an attitude she had never seen from the shorty before.

She tilted her head to the side for a moment. "Huh? What was that about?" She asked herself and she shrugged her shoulders before heading home as well.


	2. I Hunt Ghosts

*Five Days Later*

Erin reached for her keys to the Ghostbusters' building when she arrived early in the morning. She was always quite punctual and often the first one there. Abby arrived about five minutes after, followed by Holtzmann who did enjoy her sleep. Then they were later joined by Patty who enjoyed her sleep even more. So much, that she often arrived about forty five minutes after everyone else. Kevin, however, was inconsistent and usually complained that his dog, Mike Hat, ate his alarm clock. Though it was discovered by Abby Yates that he, in fact, did not even own an alarm clock in the first place. Again, Kevin's obtuseness got the better of them all. 

When Gilbert had finally managed to get her keys into the door, she noticed it was already unlocked. Confused, she pulled it out and walked in, hoping there was no robber, nor prankster, nor poltergeist ready to attack. She slowly stepped in, looking around for any intruders and shouted, "Whoever you are, you better run!" She waited for any type of response. "I may look frail, but I am actually a bit of a monster!" She took some more steps inside and the door closed behind her, causing her to jump with fear. When she turned to look at it, she noticed it was just the weight of the heavy door, shutting itself. With a hand on her heart, she turned around again and continued to yell. "I hunt ghosts for a living and I even saved the entire city from a sixty story tall class five apparition! You don't wanna mess with me!" Suddenly, she thought of the day her and the gang beat Rowan, the creepy guy who planned on ruling the city as a ghost. She remembered her gift from Holtzmann. Reaching into her skirt pocket, she pulled out the red, swiss army knife given to her by the blonde. "I have a weapon!" She began to scream like a crazy person, much similar to the day she attempted to get the mayor of New York to evacuate the city. "I'm not afraid to use it!" 

Eventually, her hysteria subsided a bit when nothing happened and she relaxed, putting away the knife. Sighing, she thought to herself that perhaps someone forgot to lock the building last night and she was going to have a talk with them all about it when they arrived. She walked over to the desk she had in the corner of the first floor by all her needed equipment and set down her purse and keys. Looking around, she felt a wave of confidence wash over her, loving her job and reveling in the fact that this was real life, not a dream, and the people that called them for paranormal help believed them. She was finally where she wanted to be in life. Oh, except for one little, simple thing seemed to be missing. Something she had never even cared about until about two weeks ago when she had her birthday and realized, she was no longer in her prime. She knew she didn't NEED a husband, but it would be nice to have one. Especially when she finally noticed how empty her apartment was after the surprise birthday party she BEGGED Abby not throw for her. 

She took in another deep breath and just before she was able to finish exhaling, she heard a noise. Jumping, she looked up at the staircase, grabbing the knife from her pocket one more time. "Oh, Erin." She whispered to herself. "A knife isn't gonna do a thing if it's a ghost." She wished she had her pack on with the blaster all ready to go, but they were all stored up by the fireman's pole in their personal lockers and the only way to get it, was to go up the stairs toward the sound. She hesitated...not wanting to go through with it. Her heart skipped a beat when the next noise she heard was all too familiar. 

"Won't you take me to Funky Town?" One of her favorite songs, now ruined, was playing on the upstairs radio and she slowly began to walk up the stairs, one by one. The song began to sound a bit fuzzy and it was as if the channel was being changed. Soon, whomever or whatever it was, finally chose another station and the new song was familiar as well. "Very superstitious! Writings on the wall!" 

She stopped walking up the stairs and closed her eyes, whispering to herself. "Oh God! That's a ghost! It's a ghost! It's a ghost!" She tried her best to remain calm and she held onto the railing beside her. Her eyes suddenly opened, remembering that it is the 21st century and cell phones do exist. She reached down in her pocket for hers to call Pat or Abby, but didn't feel it. "CRAP!" She whispered to herself. "Why do you always leave your phone in the shower, Erin?!" She kicked herself, remembering where she had it last. She sighed, trying not to cry as she heard the music growing louder and, in her opinion, sounding more threatening. She eventually found some courage to continue up the stairs and heading passed the office to the lockers to, quietly, get her blaster ready.

The closer she got to the top of the stairs, the more fidgeting she heard and the more nervous she got. Slowly passing the office, she attempted not to look to her left, not wanting to see the threat until she was armed and prepared. But, her eyes and body deceived her when the music was shut off and she turned to see Jillian directly in front of her. Erin gasped. "Holtzmann!" She scolded the bizarre scientist. "You scared me to death! I thought you were a ghost." Gilbert's hand found its way to her chest once again and she returned the knife back to her pocket. "What are you doing here so early?"

"Is it early?" Jillian looked at her wrist as if there was a watch there...there wasn't. "I never left." 

"You never-" When Jill walked back to her table, Erin stood stiff in the doorway, looking around at the room as if it would respond to her. "You were here all night? Did you sleep?" She got no answer. In the awkward silence she watched a smiling, as always, Holtzmann sit down on her stool and put her hands behind her head, leaning back. She waited for Jillian to say something...anything. Usually Holtzmann would have something exciting to show off. Something new that she built or a new concept she had come up with. Nothing. They just sat there, looking at each other. Feeling extremely weird in this situation, Erin averted eye contact and looked around the room again. Her blue eyes landed on the radio, which she remembered was turned off as soon as she stepped into the room. She smiled and awkwardly pointed to the device. "Were you, uh...were you dancing?" She knew the answer was for sure going to be yes, as Holtzy never listened to her grooves without busting some moves. Again, there was no answer. Jillian just looked at the goggles she fiddled with in her hands. "Why'd you stop?" Erin wondered, secretly loving it when she danced.

Jillian moaned as she stretched and a yawn was formed. When she was done, she let her arms drop to her sides. She looked right into Gilbert's eyes from across the room. "I don't know." She answered, barely moving her lips. 

"Hey, Erin!" They heard Abby's voice coming from downstairs. "Don't ignore me! I know you're here!" Erin turned around to look down the stairs at her best friend walking in with her hands full. "I see your stupid and sad, but uptight looking purse on your desk! Come help me!" 

Erin sighed, but obeyed and left Holtzmann in her room, on her stool. Playing with her goggles and totally uninterested in even finding out what Abby needed help with, which Erin thought weird when she didn't follow, as she'd usually be the one to run and look at new gadgets. But, the brunette ignored her suspicions and she continued to head down the stairs to help Yates. 

Their day went on, and after Patty showed up and helped out with the new equipment, Erin kept looking upstairs, wondering why Jillian hadn't come down yet. She eventually shrugged it off and just suspected she was still busy with her new blueprints and didn't want to be disturbed in her time of brainstorming. Though Holtz usually loved company to chitter chatter with about all her new ideas. 

"Hey?" She finally spoke to the other two. "You know Holtzmann was here all night? And she's still up there, but she hasn't come down at all."

"Bah!" Abby pushed it off. "That's Holtzy. Sometimes she needs alone time to think of the right equations to her inventions."

"She was here all night?" Patty asked, looking up the stairs as well. Erin slowly nodded, causing concern to rise inside of Patricia. "Hm, weird." Patty, in fact all of them, knew how much Jillian treasured her sleep.

"Hi, guys! Sorry I'm late. I took a cab to the subway, but it ended up dropping me off at some sandwich shop." Kevin walked in and Abby stopped what she was doing to glare at him. 

"What exactly did you tell the cab driver?" She wondered.

"I said I needed a ride to subway and then my stomach growled and I told him how hungry I was." He put a hand on his belly. "Then he dropped me off at the sandwich shop. Don't know why. I mean, I WAS hungry, but I kept telling him I had to go to the subway." Abby shook her head and put her own hand on her forehead, deciding not to get into it this morning.

The second Kevin walked in, it was as if Erin had already forgotten about her entire scare this morning and she walked over to him to help him with his one small suitcase, that he clearly didn't need help with. Patty watched and chuckled at, yet another, fail of Erin's and she shook her head. "Hey, y'all I'm gonna go up and check on Holtzy." She waited for a response, but she got nothing. She looked to Abby who was still trying to set up her new computer and Erin and Kevin were having some conversation about his new cologne. "A'ight. I'll let you know what happens." Still, no response and Patty's eyes widened before she shook her head and headed up the stairs.


	3. Evasive Action

Patty Tolan was headed up to the second floor of their ghostbusting building, hoping to figure out what's been going on with Holtzmann lately. The other two women didn't really see much of a difference in the eccentric blonde as she was still as awkward as usual and Kevin wouldn't notice anything. Patty, however, detected something was up. She didn't know why or how. Perhaps it was the fact that she was the only normal one of the bunch who wasn't thinking about scientific breakthroughs or spirits all the time. Anyway, it didn't matter. What did matter was Holtzmann's slight change in behavior and Patty was determined to figure it out. 

When she got halfway up the stairs, she heard a loud crash and snapped her head, looking down to see Kevin on the floor. "Kevin!" Abby yelled. "Ugh! Are you kidding me?" Yates walked over to help him up. "I told you to stop standing on your desk. It's not gonna help you hear ghosts!" Erin helped him up as well, though she seemed more concerned with touching his muscles as she did so. Patty couldn't help but shake her head with a chuckle.

Mumbling to herself, she said, "Man, he ain't gon' last long." She continued to walk up the stairs and make her way up to Holtzy. When she reached the second floor and looked inside the inventor's room of machinery, she found the blonde testing her walnut cracker with the stale goldfish she still had in her locker. "Girl, what you doing?" Tolan asked, knowing that the Nut Cracker was tested enough and they all knew how well it worked. Holtzmann gave her one look before returning back to enjoying herself. "You missed Kevin falling off his desk again." Patty laughed. "I didn't see it, but this one sounded bad."

"Oh, good." Jillian said with a smile before crushing another goldfish cracker, causing Patty to jump. 

"You, uh..." Patricia swallowed with a nervous grin. "You alright?"

Holtzmann looked to her colleague and awkwardly laughed, clapping her hands together and strangely raising both arms in the air. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I'm just taking evasive action." She crushed another fish shaped, cheese snack and silently celebrated with a high five to herself.

"Evasive action from what?" Patty asked. The shorter of the two kept her smile but widened her eyes at the other woman. "Yeah, that's right I know what that means." Patty boasted with a nod. 

Attempting to change the subject, or at least avert the question, Jillian spoke again. "Did you see Gilbert's outfit this morning?" She squinted as if she were thinking of something significant. Small talk was never her strong suit. 

"Uh...yeah." Patty responded, unaware of the reason for bringing that up. 

"Where do you think she buys her clothes?" Holtzmann asked while she crushed a goldfish with a hammer, just for fun. 

"I, uh, I don't know? Kinda look like a mixture of the Gap and JC Penney to me. Why?" She couldn't picture Holtzy in any of that style of clothing. Jillian didn't answer her, which brought her mind back to the 'evasive action' comment. "Holtz, what's up?" She asked nonchalantly.

"Nothing. Nothing's up." The blonde answered. "Oh, well...the sky is. Aha!" She laughed at her own (fail of a) joke and crushed one more goldfish with the hammer before setting it down. "Woo!" She bent her knees and raised her hands in the air, proud of herself for disposing of all the leftover goldfish in the funnest way possible. 

"Uh..." Patty stared down at the table filled with crumbs and she tried to ignore the mess when she spoke again. "Have you eaten?" She wondered, seeing as the only food in the place was now in extremely tiny pieces all over the counter and the floor.

Ignoring the question, Jillian responded with an unrelated remark. "Kevin is single, isn't he?"

Caught off guard by that comment, Patty replied, "Well, uh....to be completely honest, I don't know. Part of my guess would be a no, by the way he's treating Erin. And the other part of my guess could possibly be a yes, by the way he looks at Abby."

"Oh, Abby?" Holtz was suddenly very interested in the conversation, unlike her attitude about it before. "Really?" 

"Yeah. But that's just an observation, I'm not sure if I'm right or not. I-um, I'm not a mind reader, but to me it looks like he's got a thing for Yates." She shrugged. "I don't know. Why?" 

Jillian's eyes squinted again and she bit the end of a pen she randomly picked up from her desk. "I'm just wondering."

"Uh, okay." Patty looked around the room, now feeling confused.

"He is a beautiful man, isn't he?" The blonde squinted again.

"Kevin? Oh yeah! But his lack of smarts kinda ruin it." The tall, dark woman replied with another shoulder shrug. 

Jillian loved that answer and she couldn't help but grin. "It does, doesn't it?" 

"I mean, I don't need a man who's a genius...but he can't be as dumb as that. And I'm not even a scientist myself."

"What do you mean?" Holtzmann asked through gritted teeth.

"I mean, if someone like me don't want someone like him...then I have no idea why someone like you or Erin or Abby would. Y'all are smart and he would just, he wouldn't be able to keep up. Plus, you'd probably be doing everything and I need me a man who can help out every once in a while without worrying that he's gonna end up putting the TV in the kitchen sink or something like that." Patty loved Kevin as a friend...but when he put the phone in the fish tank at the old place, his idiocy was actually beginning to scare and concern her. "That boy needs a cat scan or something! You know what I'm saying?" 

"Yes, yes." Jillian's grin had grown two sizes since Patty had begun to talk and she was still chewing the end of her pen with delight while she answered. "I know exactly what you're saying." She chuckled before dropping the pen like a mic drop and backing away from it, confusing Patty again. 

"Hey, Holtzmann! Patty! Get down here!" Abby yelled up the stairs. 

"What do you need?" Tolan yelled back down.

"We just need you down here!" Abby couldn't think of a fake reason for them to join, so that's the best she could come up with.

Patty looked to Holtz, whose eyes had widened as if she were terrified to go downstairs. "Let's just go down and see what's goin' on." When Jillian rapidly shook her head no, Patty walked over to her and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the door. The blonde awkwardly fought back as best as she could, but Patty's strength got the best of her.

The moment they reached the middle of the staircase, Patty understood Holtzmann's hope to not see anyone this morning. "Happy birthday to you!" Everyone, but Patricia sang.

"Oh, dear God!" Jillian exclaimed aloud. "Abby!" She grunted, trying to run back up the stairs, but Patty's grip was too tight.

Kevin, Abby, and Erin finished the song and clapped for the blonde who let out a loud moan when they pulled her down to blow the candles out in her cheap cake. "I can't believe you didn't tell me it was your birthday! Ours is so close!" Erin gushed and Jillian just stared at her with wide eyes. 

"Yeah, why didn't you tell me either?" Patty asked with her hands on her hips.

The blonde tilted her head to the side as if she were annoyed with the group and she let out an audible sigh. "Hey, why does the cake say 'happy birthday, Horsemen?'" Kevin asked, leaning over the dessert and squinting.

"It doesn't." Gilbert said.

"Kevin!" Abby lightly smacked him on the stomach, forcing him to step back. "If your glasses worked properly then you would know that it says 'Holtzmann.'"

He looked at the cake once more. "Oh." He smiled, scratching his eye through the hole that was supposed to contain the lens."Thank you for clearing that up, beautiful."

"Oh." Erin giggled. "You're welcome."

"That's..." Abby stared at the two. "...that's not appropriate." She whispered the last part, but loud enough for them all to hear it and Patty shook her head at the cluelessness of both women. They were just as bad as Kevin in this department. 

"Ohhhhhhh!" Jillian stretched her arms once more, hating where she stood. "Well, I blew out the cake, I heard you sing. I am now going back up to my lair." She turned to leave. "Arrivederci!" She said 'goodbye' in Italian and headed for the stairs.

"But you have to eat your cake!" Abby practically begged.

Soon, it didn't matter at all as the phone began to ring. With irritation, Jillian was the closest to the phone, so she just picked it up, not wanting to wait for Kevin to get it. "Hellllllloooooo, this is the Ghostbusters. We answer the call, such and such." The others in the room watched her nodding along to the voice on the other end with a hint of annoyance and when she hung up, she rolled her eyes. "We've got one." She lagged and pushed the button, triggering the fire siren and all the women ran to the second floor to grab their gear and slide down the pole.

While putting her jumpsuit and pack on, Patty thought about how strange it was to see Holtzmann rolling her eyes at the end of that phone call. Usually she was the most excited for a ghost hunt. Maybe it was her birthday, but Patty, the occasional party animal found that hard to believe though she'd never seen Jillian on her birthday before. 'Abby has!' She thought to herself. 'After we catch this ghost, I'ma ask her if she's always like this on her birthday.' Now, she wondered if that's what Holtz meant when she said she was taking evasive action, but right now she had a job to do and she ran over to the fireman's pole and slid down it, heading to the ghostmobile with the others.


	4. Cake or Pie?

"We showed him who's boss!" Kevin stood outside the 'Bank of America' building on 42nd street with his hands on his hips like Superman. The crowd of waiting people outside, clapped for the Ghostbusters upon his statement.

Walking out with the metal container holding the ghost in hand, Abby looked disappointed to see their receptionist near the hearse. "Ah! Kevin, what are you doing here?" 

"I came to help." He smiled and as Yates approached he reached out, attempting to take the ghost trap from her. 

"No. No. No." Abby pulled away, afraid of him dropping it or accidentally pushing the open button and setting the entity free. "This is highly dangerous. Only a professional scientist should hold it." She was beginning to feel bad about her attitude towards him, but she hadn't a choice when he was constantly putting himself, and others, in danger. 

"Then why does Patty get to hold them sometimes?" He pointed to the tallest of the group.

"Hey." She felt a bit offended. "I'm a Ghostbuster. That's why."

"I'm a Ghostbuster, too." He whined. "Please, can I catch a ghost with you next time?"

"Ahhh...." Abby looked up into his sad eyes and she felt frustrated for feeling herself about to give in. "Alright, we'll see. But you'll stay by my side the whole time." She walked to the back of the hearse, putting the vessel inside.

"Absolutely." Kevin grinned while Abby slammed the back of the car shut. "Ay, ay, Captain." He saluted.

"At ease. Put your arm down." She walked back over to him and pulled on his arm. "And you don't have to say that, we're not pirates." She looked at Patty and shook her head. "Gosh!" She said, only quiet enough for Tolan to hear. The taller woman smirked and shook her own head, looking down while she chuckled. Abby clearly was unaware of Kevin's flirting and she thought she should tell her, though it was a bit amusing for Patty to watch, so she decided to wait to tell her. 

"Where are the other two ladies?" Kevin wondered, looking at the glass building.

"Oh." Abby turned around, just now realizing they were missing a couple tag alongs. "Good question, I...I don't know. Patty, did you see them come out?" Yates continued to look around.

"No, I thought they were already out here with you." Patty confessed, looking around as well. "Huh? We should go in and check." 

"You go." Abby pointed toward the skyscraper, before whispering, "I'll wait out here in case Kevin tries touching anything."

Patty looked at Kevin who, oddly enough, was trying to clean his lens-less glasses with his shirt as if there WERE lenses in them. Shaking her head, she turned and headed back inside. The moment she entered, she saw Holtzmann over by one of the service desks. Walking up to her, she spoke, "Hey, Holtz. What's up?"

The blonde nodded toward another service desk and Patty turned to see Erin speaking with one of the tellers. Just by Gilbert's comfortable stance, Pat could see that she clearly knew the person she was speaking to. They secretly listened to part of their conversation. "Yeah, so...you were right." The mystery woman spoke. "All those years ago. I'm really sorry for not believing you and mostly for picking on you."

Erin waved her hand as if it were no big deal. "Oh, it was a different time then. And it was such a long time ago. It-It's fine."

Jillian began to mutter so only Patty could hear her. "From what I've heard so far, I think that was the ring leader of the kids who bullied Abby and Erin in school."

Patty looked to the shorter woman to her right. "Yeah, no. I got that." She replied. 

"Shh. Shh." Holtzmann quieted her to hear some more. While the blonde watched Erin talk, Patty thought she caught a sparkle in her eye and she kept her own eyes on Jillian while they listened. She was so intently watching Holtzy, she didn't even notice Erin walking up to the both of them. "So's, we's read-ty to goes?" Jillian said in a strange voice and Patty blinked, looking to Erin beside her. 

"We's sure are's?" Erin tried mimicking the blonde, but slightly failed and she knew it when her face dropped and she asked herself in her head why she tried to in the first place.

"Let's boogay!" Holtzmann shouted and walked passed the two, heading out of the revolving doors.

Gilbert clenched her fists at her sides, hating herself for being so awkward and she walked by Patty with her head down. The last ghostbuster in the lobby, widened her eyes and shook her head, telling herself that she was just noticing all kinds of things lately and maybe her mind was just messing with her. She shrugged and joined the others outside. She was not surprised when she saw Holtzmann jump right in the driver's seat and Erin asked Kevin if she could ride on the back of his motorcycle with him. He said no, however, due to the fact that he didn't have an extra helmet and he believed in safety first. Abby rolled her eyes when Erin swooned over him even more after he tried to 'protect' her. Sighing, Patty walked down the small steps of the building and hopped in the passenger seat.

"Hey, Holtzy?" She began, looking at the woman to her left.

"What sizzles, my grizzles?" The soft, pale skinned inventor asked in another weird voice.

Patty gazed at her as she stared out the windshield over the steering wheel. She smiled. "Nevermind." Abby and Erin finally got in the back seats and they drove back to the station, Kevin following on his motorcycle. When they arrived, Holtzmann quickly got out and grabbed the vessel from the back so she could bring it upstairs as soon as possible and not have to have any of her cake, like she knew Abby would force her to. Little did she know that Patty was planning on following her all the way up the stairs as well.

Halfway up to the second floor, she heard the footsteps behind her. She slightly looked over her shoulder to make sure it wasn't Erin or Kevin and when she saw that it wasn't, she loosened her posture and relaxed a bit more. When she reached the top step, she began to dance her way over to the machine that held the spirits in order to show Patty that she was still good. She knew that whatever was going on in her brain was just a mix of chemicals and a full ball of emotions having a bad interaction. So, maybe dancing would help counteract those chemicals and she'd be back to the way she was before she met all these new people. 

Patty sat down in one of the stools when she followed her in and she smiled, watching her quirky dance moves as she put the ghost into the machine. "You know, it'd be better if there was some music on."

"What are you talking about? This is my favorite song." Jillian began to dance more aggressively and Patty couldn't help but laugh. She was a little bit more like herself, but still not quite.

"Hey. Why don't you go down and celebrate your birthday, girl?" Patty finally asked, causing Jill to stop dancing immediately. "Do you not like cake? Is that the problem? Cause I'll go out and get a pie or something."

Jillian groaned, thinking about it. "Piiiieeeeeee!" Then a sudden, "No." She shook her head. "No. That's not the problem?" Tolan had no clue why she said it as a question. "I just...I get a little crazy on my birthday. That's why it's best if I just stay up here. Away from everyone, away from cake, presents, balloons. Away from Erin. No." Jillian immediately kicked herself for letting that last part slip and she put both hands on the table between her and Patty. She kept her head down and bit her lip, hoping the taller woman didn't think anything of it. She leaned on one foot and kicked at the leg of the table with the other. She felt her body temperature rise as she waited for a response from the pretty witty friend in front of her. 

"You get a little crazy?" Patty questioned. "So what? Hey, I get crazy too." She playfully laughed. "We're all allowed to get crazy sometimes, girl. We need it!"

"No!" Jill practically gasped, looking up. "I get too crazy. I don't want Er-" she paused. "...E'rbody to see me like that."

"Mhm." Patty stood, finally picking up on what was really going on. "Alright, fine." She hintedly, began to walk towards the door. "You'll be missing out. We'll be celebrating YOUR birthday without you and you won't get a chance to see Kevin hitting on-"

"No!" Holtzmann cracked and she aggressively pointed at the other ghostbuster. "You stop it! He and Erin should not be a thing!" She weirdly gasped and put a hand over her mouth.

Patty stopped and smiled, knowing she finally got her. "What? I was gonna say Abby." She messed with her a bit. "What are YOU talking about?" 

"MmmmmNOTHIN!" The blonde murmured through the hand that was still over her mouth. 

"What? What's wrong with Erin and Kevin being together?" 

Finally moving her hand, Jillian awkwardly flailed her body around near the table. "Shhhh!" She didn't want anyone downstairs to hear them. "Nothing!" It was quiet for a moment. 

Patty slowly nodded. "Ah. Oh. Okay. Nothing. I get it." She smirked and turned back around to face the door yelling, "Happy birthday, Holtzy!"

"No!" The awkward scientist put a hand up as if it would somehow stop Patty from leaving. "Don't go!" She couldn't leave things like that. Patty turned back to face her and saw Jillian strangely walking around the table. She grabbed her yellow goggles and put them on before covering her face with her hands. "I'm just having a weird day. Okay?" 

Noticing the cheeks, that were barely hidden by Holtz's hands, turn a noticeable shade of pink, Patty's smile faded and she quietly agreed. "Yeah. Okay." She hesitated to turn and leave but not before she sadly said, "Happy birthday, man." As she walked out, Jillian's hands slid down her face and she swore she heard Pat's voice from behind the door saying, "You should tell her."


	5. Secrets

Erin looked up at Patty when she reached the last two steps on the staircase and she set down the paper plate of cake she was holding in disappointment. She sighed. "Oh, come on! Why won't Holtzmann come down here with us? I already cut her a piece." Patty shrugged upon hearing the brunette's whining and she walked right passed her to grab her own piece. "I'm just gonna bring it up to her."

"No!" Patty didn't mean to sound so aggressive. She lowered her tone. "She really doesn't feel up to cake right now, okay?"

"But it's her birthday. She shouldn't spend it alone." Gilbert exclaimed.

"Huh?" Abby stood up from the chair at her desk and softly started laughing. The others all looked to her.

"What?" Erin put a hand on her hip.

"Says the girl who wouldn't talk to me for two days because I threw you a surprise party." Yates walked over and grabbed her own piece, then headed back to her chair. 

"Well, uh..." Erin's eyes flicked around the room. "That's different."

"Really? How?" Kevin asked.

"Because...because-" She frustratedly slapped her hand down from her hip. "Because this is Holtzmann and she deserves to be around us, her friends, on a big day like this." Patty tried her best not to play Cupid in this very moment.

"Well, it's only Wednesday." Kevin said, taking a bite of his own cake. "I wouldn't really say it's a BIG day."

"Kevin." Patty glared at him. "Really?" They all stared at the hunk for a few seconds and he looked down at the birthday cake on his desk. 

"Oh, right. Forgot about that." He smiled and took another bite, causing Patty and Abby to shake their heads.

To Patty's surprise, Abby actually laughed. "You know...I really wonder about you, Kevin." 

Erin chuckled and Patty cracked a small grin, until Kevin finished swallowing. "Wonder what?" He asked with a look of confusion.

"Oh, nevermind." Abby said. "Just eat your cake." Patty blew air out of her mouth and sat down in her chair, taking a bite. After a few moments of silence, the thicker woman looked to her best friend who had not moved an inch for a while. "Well, Erin, are you gonna have the cake or not? Or can you just sit down because you're making me uncomfortable, standing in the middle of the room like that."

"No." Erin's voice was at a higher pitch than usual and Patty seemed to be the only one who noticed. "I can't have this cake now. I'm just...I'm gonna save it for Jillian." Immediately, everyone in the room perked up. 

"Who's Jillian?" Kevin asked, dumbfounded.

At first, ignoring his question, Erin looked to the other two women and acted as though she didn't know what the problem was. "What?"

"Nothing." Abby returned to her cake. "I'm just not used to people calling her by her first name, I guess."

"Oh." Gilbert nervously giggled. "Well, it's a nice name. And I think it suits her and it-it's not really a big deal."

"No. It's not a big deal." Yates admitted.

"I'm still confused. Who's Jillian?" 

"It's Holtzmann, Kev." Patty answered. "Jillian is her first name. Holtzmann is her last name."

The receptionist smiled. "Oh. I thought her name was JUST Holtzmann. Like, uhhhh, I don't know..." He snapped his fingers as if he were trying to think of a famous name. "Ummm....Oh, what is it?"

"Madonna?" Patty suggested and he shook his head no.

"Cher." Abby added.

"No, no." Kevin bit his finger nails, thinking so hard about it. 

"Prince?" Erin said.

"Drake." Patty tossed in.

Abby jumped in again. "Ooo, Beyonce."

"No! I've got it!" Kevin snapped once again, but one single snap as if he finally knew whom he was thinking of. "Miley Cyrus!"

"What?" Erin looked to Patty who shook her head and shrugged her shoulders with a look of pity on her face. 

Abby pretended to think about it, even though she knew that didn't add up at all, she slowly nodded and said "Oh yeah. Yeah." She caught the side eye she received from Patty and she gave her a look back, suggesting that he was a lost cause and there was no hope for trying to help him anymore.

Beckman smiled, proud of himself for finally thinking of the name, and he finished up his first piece of cake before standing to grab a second piece.

"Wow. You, uh...really know how to eat, don't ya?" Erin flirtatiously smiled at him and she purposefully blocked his path to the cake. "Maybe you and I could, um...eat together sometime." She suggested and he just stared down at her.

"But we, uh...we already have. We do all the time."

"We do?" Erin laughed and he stepped around her.

"Yeah. Remember last week when we all went dancing?" He cut a new piece of the marble dessert and turned around, almost bumping into Gilbert right behind him.

"Yeah. But I mean...just the two of us?" She tried again.

"I don't know. I don't wanna be rude and not invite our other friends." 

Erin sadly nodded, but faked a smile. "Oh, okay."

"Okay?" He smiled down at her and when she nodded again, holding back tears of frustration, he walked back to his desk and ate his second piece.

Patty couldn't help but feel a wave of emotions inside. A part of felt the urge to shout to Erin that she's chasing after the impossible and another part just wanted to hug her. While one piece of Patty's brain was also telling her to knock some sense into both Abby and Kevin as well as yelling out Holtzmann's secret. But instead, she decided to keep her mouth shut and finished off her cake as well. "I'm, uh...I'm gonna go for a walk." Erin walked over to her desk, grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

Later on, after Erin had returned from her very emotional alone time, Yates and Gilbert did some more research and Patty sat, reading one of her favorite novels. They all waited for the phone to ring for more ghosts, but it seemed like it was going to be a slow day. Closing time finally came and they all decided to turn in for the night. 

"Hey, Erin! Wanna share a cab?" Abby asked while Patty walked and Kevin got on his motorcycle. 

"Um...no. I'm good. I think I'm gonna stay for a little bit and maybe, uh...get a head start for tomorrow." The taller of the two grinned.

"You sure? I'll pay." 

"No. It's-it's fine. I could use the extra company." She pointed upstairs, hoping Abby would get what she meant. She knew she did when she snorted.

"Ha! Don't you let those ghosts out, Gilbert."

"Haha! I won't." Erin mocked her and Abby headed for the door with her bag. 

"Happy birthday, Holtzy!" Yates yelled as loud as possible up the stairs.

To Erin's surprise, Jillian yelled back. "Thank you!" 

"You're welcome!" She was about to leave, but she remembered, "And don't forget to lock the door when you leave!"

"I won't!" 

"And make sure you check the Ecto Containment Unit before ten!"

"I will!" 

Erin awkwardly stood at her desk, watching Abby yell up the stairs and listening to Holtz scream back down. "Why don't you just, uh...go up there and talk to her?" Gilbert tried to politely suggest, when she heard a slight echo cause a small ringing in her ears.

"No, no. That's alright. I'm done now." Abby said to her. 

"Oh. Okay. Bye." She waved.

"Alright, bye." She said calmly just before, "BYE HOLTZY!" Erin jumped, closing her eyes at the startle. 

"BYE BYE!" 

"Oh, gosh! Okay." Erin mumbled to herself and finally, Abby was gone. Peace and quiet at last. She sighed, sitting down at her desk for about two minutes and suddenly feeling bored. She actually wasn't in the mood to work anymore tonight. So she walked on over to Kevin's desk, sitting in his chair and setting her hands on the desk as if she were touching him. She closed her eyes, smiled, and took in a deep breath slightly smelling the after scent of his expensive cologne. 

When she opened her eyes, she picked up the picture he had of himself on his table. She sadly looked at it, thinking about kissing it or holding it to her chest, but all she did was play with the corners of the frame and set it back down.She sighed again, but this time it was a sad sigh and she tapped her finger nails on the wood in front of her. She cleared her throat wondering what Holtzmann was up to and she turned in her chair, looking at the stairs and deciding on whether or not she should go up.

Little did she know that Holtzmann was standing right by her door, looking out and down the stairs at her. When she saw Erin stand from Kevin's seat, she slowly moved away from behind the door and back to her stool, hoping Gilbert didn't see her.


	6. Lonely

"Hey." Erin stood in the doorway to Jillian's lab with the self-promised piece of cake in her hand for Holtzy.

The blonde almost fell over on her stool, as she hadn't noticed the woman enter. Trying to act like everything was fine and dandy, she said, "Wazzuppp?" Her hands simultaneously found themselves moving to rest behind her head and she leaned back.

"I, uh...I saved you a piece. Even though you didn't want any, I just...I thought you should have some." Erin awkwardly walked over to stand at the table across from Jillian, who slowly put her arms down as the woman set the plate on the surface in front of her. She waited for Holtzmann to reach for the fork or at least push the plate away, but she did nothing. "Um, what have you been doing up here all day?" No answer. "Are you planning on staying here all night again?" Holtzmann shrugged one shoulder. It was silent for an uncomfortable amount of time. Erin looked around the room, feeling strange about any type of eye contact at the moment and Jillian looked down at the cake. Gilbert took in a deep breath as if she were about to say something, but she stopped herself. Then, spoke anyways. "Are you...okay? You seem-" She moved her hands in front of her as if trying to come up with the best word.

Grinning, Jillian replied with a small lie. "I'm tired."

"Ohhhhh...Makes sense." The taller of the two slowly nodded. 

"So, uh...what are you still doin' here?" Holtzmann asked. 

"I don't know." Gilbert continued to move her eyes around the room. She continued to avoid eye contact with the blonde before suddenly, flopping down into a stool across from the woman opposite her. She sighed. "I guess I didn't want to feel alone in that apartment!" She confessed with her eyes closed. "Holtzmann, I'm so lonely." Erin whined before opening her eyes again and finally braving the eye contact with the blonde, who had at some point taken her yellow goggles off. Gilbert secretly thought to herself how surprised she was that Holtzy was actually listening and seemed a bit interested. "Ugh! Why is it so hard to find a man?" 

"I don't know." Jillian answered as she picked at her own finger nails. "Probably not looking in the right place." 

"I don't know. I've looked everywhere. I've tried online dating. I've gone out with coworkers who, by the way, ended up being worse than the strangers I met on the internet. I don't know. Maybe I'm not meant for a relationship. I have tried and tried with Kevin, but he's either uninterested or just too stupid to notice that I've been flirting." She scoffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest." It's probably me. It's me, isn't it?" It was silent for a moment and she looked down at the cake in between the two, feeling her stomach slightly growl. She opened her mouth to continue with what she was saying, but she lost her train of thought when she saw Holtzmann's hand reach up and slowly push the plate toward her, offering it to her. She just stared down at it, not wanting to take the last piece from the birthday girl who hadn't even had a piece yet.

"Go on." Jillian gestured toward the dessert with her hand before leaning her elbow on the table and resting her chin in that hand. 

"No. No. That's for you. I saved it specifically for the birthday girl. You eat it." Erin declined.

"Oh, don't worry about me. You want it. Go for it." She tried not to get lost in Gilbert's sad eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to look away either. 

"I couldn't. I'd feel too guilty-"

"If I took a bite first, would you just shut up and have the darn cake?"

Erin couldn't help but think how adorable her friend was and she let herself smile while she looked down at the fork on the paper plate. "Uh, sure. Yeah. Okay." She awkwardly nodded. "Thanks, Holtzy."

"Mhm." The inventor picked up the fork, hesitantly stabbing into a small corner of the fluffy cube. As she angled the fork just right to pick up a good, but pretty small mouthful of chocolate and vanilla, she tried to ignore the fact that Erin stared at her while she did so. She lifted the utensil to her mouth and sighed before opening it and taking the whole bit on the fork into it. As she chewed, she looked back into Erin's eyes and felt something she'd never felt before. She thought she recalled other people calling it something like...fireflies, or fruit flies, or...something. Butterflies! That's it! Butterflies were in her stomach for the first time in all thirty years of her life. Her eyes widened in the realization of what had just happened and she now knew that her plan to take evasive action was a total fail. Just like most of her inventions in their first models. 

"Good, isn't it?" Erin said when she noticed the woman's eyes widen and then suddenly close. Holtzmann's thought as she closed her eyes was that hopefully she'd open them and this had all been some bizarre dream and she was still back at the 'Kenneth P. Higgins Institute of Science' with Abby before Erin ever walked into her life. Her wish did not come true, however, and in fact things got worse when she felt Gilbert's hand brush against hers in an attempt to take the fork from her. Jillian's eyes shot open. "I just need one bite and then you can have the whole thing if you want." Erin stated.

"No. No. We made a deal. The cake is yours." Her breaths were short and when she watched the brunette take a bite, she put her head down in her arms on the table. She remembered the day they first met and she couldn't help but flirt with Erin. Something about her style and the way she carried herself was so appealing to the blonde that she thought she'd have some fun with her for their brief meeting time. Until....they ended up becoming coworkers and eventually close friends. Now, she felt she couldn't go back and she was really in too deep. The chemicals in her brain were put into action and she knew, by the pain in her chest, that nothing would ever make her forget this feeling. Nothing. Not even science. 

"Do you think it's what I wear?" Erin went back to what she was talking about before the subject of the cake came up and she took another bite. "Should I change my style?" She heard Holtzmann groaning with her face still down. Jillian loved her style and she didn't want her changing it. "Hey, Holtz." Gilbert hoped for an answer. "What do you think I should do? What do I have to change to get Kevin to notice me?"

The exhausted scientist lifted her head, her eyes so squinted, they were almost shut, and she honestly answered, but in a deep and playful voice. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Erin looked down at herself. "You sure? Because I think maybe if, I don't know...I showed off a little more skin...?" 

Jillian's eyes widened. "Nope. Nothing!" She stuck by her word and leaned her temple against her fist as she had her elbow propped up on the table once again. 

"Nothing? Really?" Gilbert found it hard to believe. "Is it my hair? Should I go back to the Garfield red? Unless it's....Oooooo, I know what it is." Before she continued, she took another bite of the cake and spoke after swallowing. "It's my makeup. I should change the way I do my makeup." The brunette nodded with a smile. "Yeah. Then I could get more men to notice me. And maybe even Kevin."

"They should already notice you." Jillian seemed as though she were falling asleep, though she really was just bored with hearing about Kevin. "If they were good enough for you, they should've already noticed."

"Yeah, I guess so. But still...it wouldn't hurt to try something new, right?" The older of the two actually liked the idea of something different for the first time in years. "There's nothing wrong with a little change. It can be fun sometimes."

"I'm not one for change." Holtzmann readjusted her fist to an open hand, but she still leaned her head against it. "I like things the way the way are. I like YOU the way you are."

"Well, that's very nice of you. Thanks, Holtzy." She took another bite of the cake. "I just hope Kevin picks up on my hints soon, or I'm just going to call it off and die alone." Jillian sucked in her cheeks like a fish and finally put her hand down, standing up and walking over to another table, grabbing one of the tools to fool around with. "What about you?" Erin wondered and the blonde stopped what she was doing, slowly turning her attention to the other ghostbuster.

"What about me?" She repeated, looking at the former professor with fear in her eyes and more butterflies in her stomach.

"Is there a man in your life?" Gilbert genuinely asked.

The blonde let out a loud, boisterous chuckle and she set the tool back down on the table to clap her hands together in amusement. "Ohhhhh, that's funny. You're funny. Hah! No. No. I do not." 

"Oh." Gilbert responded. "Well, we can be lonely together." She giggled and Jillian slammed her hand down on the table as she looked at the intelligent scholar. Erin took another bite of the cake and Holtzmann closed her eyes when another wave of butterflies grew in her abdomen. Suddenly feeling sick, Jillian looked away from the woman and tried to take deep breaths. She took them loudly though and Gilbert thought nothing of it, used to her friend's spontaneity. "Hey, there's one more bite left. Do you want it?" The blonde looked at Erin in the corner of her eye and knew she probably shouldn't eat anything at the moment and she barely shook her head no. "Are you sure?"

"Mhm." Jill's left hand found itself resting on her own stomach and she closed her eyes again as Erin shrugged and ate the last of the cake. The shorter one tried her best to gently breathe again, but it was harder than it should've been, in her opinion. It was just breathing. She did it everyday. What was the problem now? How did something as simple as just being in the same room as Erin suddenly make it impossible for her to accomplish the simple inhalation of oxygen?

All of a sudden, it got worse. She felt her body temperature rising and she hoped her face was still pale and not turning a shade of pink. She felt something else she wasn't quite familiar with. A sort of, strange, burning sensation rose in her nose and the back of her throat and her eyes began to feel dry. Is this what it felt like before one cries? She wondered. The last time she had cried was in grade school and it was over another kid ruining her science project before the judges got to even see it. Soon, she knew her accusations were right when the bottoms of her sea blue eyes were beginning to flood and she abruptly turned her back to Erin. She had turned just on time before a tear fell from both ducts. She refused to let anymore fall and she swallowed as hard as she could which, to her surprise, worked and prevented anymore to fall. Now came the tricky part. How would she dry her cheeks without Gilbert noticing? 

She grabbed her yellow goggles, putting them back on her face and looked over her shoulder, seeing Erin fiddling with one of her gadgets. A thought came to Jillian's mind and she faked a loud sneeze, causing Gilbert to jump. As Holtzmann held her inner arm up to her face, she dragged it across her cheeks, ridding them of her trail of tears. "Bless you!" The brunette exclaimed before picking up the paper plate and fork in front of her. 

"Thanks." Holtz replied with her arm still over her mouth.

Erin stood and walked over to the garbage can in the corner of the room. After dropping the trash into the bin, she awkwardly turned around to look back at Jillian. "Well, I think I'm gonna...I'm gonna go home." She headed for the door. "Happy birthday."

Seeing the depressed state Erin was in, gave Jill this sudden protective feeling. She hated seeing her so sad and feeling lonely. She opened her mouth to speak, but found it difficult to form words. "Uh...um, hey." She finally managed to choke out. "Erin?" Saying her name made the pain return in her chest and she took in a deep breath when Gilbert stopped by the door and looked at her. "I think you deserve someone better than Kevin. And definitely someone smarter than him." She didn't mean to hint at herself when she decided to talk, but it just slipped out. "You deserve someone who knows what you want." And Kevin clearly didn't, she thought to herself.

The older of the two sent the blonde a small grin and she nodded as if to say thank you. "Goodnight, Jillian." And she was gone. 

The moment Erin left the room, Holtzmann's eyes grew wide upon hearing her first name from the brunette and she sat down in her stool, leaning her head on the table and letting out one of her frustrated, emotional yells.


	7. Promise?

"Benny!" Abby said with excitement. "You finally got it right! Good job! You...you actually get a tip this time." Yates set the food down on her desk, happy that she had finally gotten a good quality of her order from the Chinese place she constantly ordered from. Though she had no clue why she continued to order from them when her order was never satisfactory. She reached into her pocket book, pulling out her wallet and paying the delivery man she now knew very well. "Hey, Holtzy." She smiled at her friend who walked into work right after her. "Benny got it right this time." Abby playfully punched Ben in the arm as she said it and Jillian gave her a smile and a nod. 

"It's about darn time." The blonde looked back at them as she continued to head for the stairs with her bag.

"Alright." Abby said with contentment. "You get out of here and keep doing what you're doing." She patted Benny on the back when he turned to leave with the money.

Holtzmann made her way up the stairs and into her office. Upon entering, she saw that she had company. "Oh. Hey, Patty." She set her bag down next to the door and went further into the lab. "What can I do you for?" The blonde wondered, setting her hands on her hips as she moved to stand behind her counter.

"Nothin.' I just wanted to hang out." Patricia folded her hands on the table in front of her and looked around the room.

Jillian leaned to her right, as if doing hip stretches and when she stood up straight again, she slammed both fists down on the counter like a gorilla with a grunt. The action, surprisingly had no reaction from Patty. Clearing her throat, Jillian spoke. "You want to talk about yesterday." She talked, barely moving her lips and Patty just looked at her.

"Mhm." Tolan admitted, waiting for the blonde to speak. It was silent for a moment.

"Well," Holtzmann began, "...I don't want to talk about yesterday."

"Why not?" Patty sort of whispered. "Now you have someone who knows that you can talk to. And I'm a good listener, man. I know I'm a talker, but no one knows this about me...sometimes I just love to listen."

Jillian retracted her neck, giving herself a small double chin for a moment before she extended her neck and opened her mouth as if she were about to talk, but nothing came out. She rested both hands on the table between them and retracted her neck once more before looking down at the floor beneath her. When she looked up again, she almost shouted, "There's nothing to talk about!" Though she shouted, it was not in frustration nor anger, but just in the manner that she felt like it...and she was weird. 

"That's bull." Patty shook her head, not buying it. She knew that if it was enough to change Holtzy's mood...then there HAD to be something to talk about. "Look, maybe I can help you." 

"Jillian Holtzmann never needs help." The blonde stated and she pulled the goggles that rested on her head down over her eyes.

Patty sat in disbelief for a moment as she just looked at her friend. "Alright, fine. Then at least answer me a question." Holtzy opened her eyes some more, not wanting to tell anybody anything. But she stood and waited for the question anyways. "When did it start?" 

"Hmmmmmmmmm, what?" The blonde haired, blue eyed, idiosyncratic genius responded.

"You getting all sweet on Gilbert. When did it start?" 

Jillian nervously looked to the door, hoping no one was standing there and Patty looked as well. When they both saw nothing, they looked back to each other. "I wouldn't really...call it that. Is that what you'd call it?" She made a strange face and looked to the ceiling as if she were thinking of another phrase, but Patty interrupted her thoughts.

"I'm serious, Holtzy." Patty looked to the door one more time, then back to Jill.

The shorter woman squinted her eyes, looking at the wall behind Patty. "I don't see why it even matters-"

"Just answer the question." 

Holtzmann sighed and leaned against the table once more, looking down at her feet. "Well, to be completely honest with you," she looked back up at Tolan, "...it's been since the day we met. But it only got bad a couple weeks ago and-" She stopped herself.

"And what?" Patty tilted her head, hoping she'd go on. Jillian didn't want to mention what happened last night with her emotions and she let out a long sigh with an irritated groan. "What?" Patty repeated.

"Something happened last night." The blonde kicked at the floor before letting go of the table and putting both hands in her pockets. She swayed back and forth on both feet, looking to Patty and hoping she would just catch on without her having to say another word.

"What? What happened?" Patty wondered.

Jillian opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted when Erin walked in with a question. "Hey, uh...do either of you know where Kevin is? His stuff is here, but we can't find him." 

"No. I ain't seen him." Patty answered. 

"Nope. No idea." Jillian, with her hands still in her pockets, began to move her arms as if flapping a pair of wings. Patty noticed she never looked to the woman in the doorway.

"Huh? Weird." Erin looked to the floor as if trying to think of somewhere he could be. "Thanks, guys." She turned and left.

Patricia shrugged her shoulders, still wondering why Kevin was ever hired in the first place. She shook her head and turned to see the blonde, completely still. Her hands were still in her pockets and the only thing that moved was her head. She slightly tilted it up, looking back to Patty through her yellow lenses. A thick strand of her wavy hair covered her left eye, however, and Patty saw the woman's throat as she swallowed hard and let out a loud breath of air. This is when Tolan realized.....Jillian was in love. And she now knew what 'taking evasive action' meant in the poor scientist's context the other day. She was trying to avoid this falling in love thing by staying away from Gilbert as much as possible. When Holtzmann bit her bottom lip, Patty stood up from her stool. "I gotta tell her."

"Don't you dare!" Jillian ripped off her goggles and over-dramatically slammed them down on the table.

"Holtzy, you're in love. If you don't say something soon, I'm-I'm afraid it's gonna slip out." Patty's hands were thrown up in defense and she backed away from the table.

"It might not even be love." The blonde smiled as if it were ridiculous. "I've never been in it, so maybe I'm just pulling my own leg." She laughed as if that was the true case and picked up her goggles from the table again. She began twirling them around her finger and kept a smile while looking at Patty, who just stared at her. It was silent for quite a while and Jillian's smile began to fade the longer Tolan stared at her. She stopped twirling the goggles and begged, "Please, just don't say anything? To ANYONE...not even Abby."

The taller woman snickered and shook her head. " Yeah, alright. Fine." 

"You promise?" Jillian asked in one of her strange voices. 

"I won't!" Patricia swore and the shorter ghostbuster let out a sigh of relief and a playful yelp for joy before oddly raising her hands in the air as a celebration of victory. Deep down, however, she was still a mess of emotions and she forced herself to be a logical scientist and completely ignore them. Tolan tried her best not to roll her eyes at the stubborn woman and she turned to go downstairs. 

The moment she was gone, Jillian brought her hands back down and she sighed, leaning one against the table. She looked down at the hammer beside her and picked it up. After staring at it for a moment, she hit the table with the end of it once and sat back down in her stool. "Oh, Jillian, Jillian." She spoke aloud to herself. "You've gotten yourself into a new kind of science."


	8. Bedtime

Jillian Holtzmann stood in front of the sink in her apartment bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror before leaning over the tub to turn the nozzle, starting up the shower. As she waited for it to heat up, she looked back at her reflection and reached a hand up to take the pins out of her hair. Her, surprisingly long, wavy locks fell down around her shoulders and she set the pins on the porcelain sink in front of her. Looking into the mirror, she ran her slender fingers through her golden mane before gently massaging her scalp. When she noticed a thin sheet of steam rising from the tub, she bent over, gave her head a shake to loosen her curls, and stood back up, flipping her hair back over her head so it naturally hung down her back. She looked into her own eyes in the mirror once more before letting out a sigh and turning on her ipod that was plugged into the bathroom radio. "Sweet dreams are made of these. Who am I to-" While she strangely danced and sang along to the music, she untied the belt of her plush, powder blue bathrobe and let it fall to the floor before stepping into the, nearly steaming, water. As she washed herself, she held one of her soap bottles as a microphone and continued to sing along to her shower playlist.

Though it was nice to have friends now, Jillian missed the days when she worked alone and she was free to do whatever she wanted around the lab. She could dance. She could make up her own songs with, more than odd, lyrics. She could pass gas without even having to hold it in or apologize to anyone for it. Things have changed so much since she met Abby and they actually had gotten better since they started the Ghostbusters. Though a part of her did feel as though things had gotten a bit worse for her individual self. She had changed. She was different. She used to have an amazing concentration span with killer focus. With so many people around that can disturb her, she finds it much harder to pay attention to her work and frankly, that terrified her.

Since her feelings for Erin had begun to get fuzzy, it only metastasized the issue and she felt she had gotten nothing accomplished in the past few weeks. Especially the past two days. And having Kevin around only added to the situation. Obviously, Erin's constant attempts to get him to date her was a problem, but so was his lack of knowledge when it came to anything. Sometimes she thought to herself that they were all basically his babysitters and she'd wished he weren't so cute. He probably would've never gotten the job. Or he'd at least not have Gilbert's eyes stuck on him all the time. Holtzmann wished she could go back to simpler times when it was just her and Abby in the lab. Meeting Erin was easily the best thing that ever happened to her, as well as the worst thing.

Halfway through her shower, as she thought of these things, her dancing and singing suddenly halted and she just finished up her washing with no fun and got out. She wrapped a towel around her pale body and hit the power button on her radio. After opening the bathroom door to step out and into her small bedroom, she boogied over to her bed that had her boyish pajamas laying on top of it. With one of the songs stuck in her head, she slightly moved her shoulders while bopping her head to the imaginary beat. She turned, sitting down on the bed and reaching for her lotion on the nightstand to her left. Once the moisturizer was in her hand, she put it up to her nose to sniff the sweet scent. She rubbed her hands together and applied it to her legs. Suddenly, she hated herself for letting her mind head straight to Erin. Again.

Meanwhile, in one of the other burrows of the city, Abby Yates sat on her bed in her soft pink pajamas. She had a notebook in her lap with a pen in her hand and she read one of her books, "A New Science of the Paranormal." She often took notes on things she knew would help them at the station and when she was finished, she planned on giving her notes to Holtzmann in the hopes that it'd motivate her to keep inventing new technology for their ghost hunting.

After a couple hours of reading, she developed a small headache and her eyes were growing tired. She set the book down on top of her notebook and took her glasses off before closing her eyes and rubbing them. She groaned before feeling a yawn come on and she reached up behind her to pull the hairtie she had in out of her dark brown hair.

Giving her head a slight shake, she put her books on the nightstand beside her and turned off her lamp, laying her head back on her plush pillows and forcing herself to fall asleep.

"Girl, you better run!" Patty Tolan forced out of her mouth through her toothbrush. She stood in front of her TV, watching a scary movie as she constantly walked back and forth between her bathroom and her living room to spit out the toothpaste. "No! Don't go in there!" She took the toothbrush out of her mouth for a moment and glared at the television. "Now why would you do that? Why?" She shook her head in shame before continuing to brush her bottom teeth and returning to her bathroom to spit and rinse off the brush.

She dried her mouth before walking out and sitting down on her couch. She watched a few more minutes of the flick and the moment the protagonist mistakenly put herself in even more danger, she shut off the TV. "Man, I deal with enough paranormal activity at work, I'm done." She stood up from the couch and went into the kitchen. She cleaned a couple dishes that were in the sink before heading to bed.

The 37 year old, brunette scholar stood in her bedroom with her hairbrush in her hand. After one stroke through her straight, shoulder-length hair, Erin Gilbert's brush fell to the floor. Sighing, the woman bent over to pick it up and she mentally scolded herself for daydreaming. When she stood back up, she plopped down on her bed and frustratedly set the purple brush on the stand beside her bed. She reached both hands up to pull her hair back, using a small scrunchy to put it into a ponytail.

When she brought her hands back down, she pushed herself off her bed and walked over her full body mirror. Thinking of many different things she could change about herself, she reran Holtzy's words in her head over and over again. She knew she was right. She shouldn't have to change herself for anyone. It shouldn't even be a thought if it was for someone who would love her for the person she was.

She looked at her hair and decided she actually admired it the way it was. Looking at her clothes, she felt comfortable and she looked into her own eyes, realizing they were her favorite feature and she smiled. She looked behind herself at the reflection of her bedroom before turning around to see her taste in decor and feeling a small sense of confidence, she straightened her posture and told herself that she would take Jillian's advice and stay exactly the way she was.

Taking in a deep breath, she went into her dresser to pull out something to sleep in and she set the night clothes down on her bed with a grin. After she changed and got her outfit ready for tomorrow, she laid down in her bed and stared up at the ceiling with pride. As she rested her hands behind her head, her mind went straight to Holtzmann and she smirked. Forming the Ghostbusters had definitely changed her life for the better and she couldn't have asked for a better group of people to be working with. Well...Kevin could be a little better, but at least he was nice to look at.

She shook her head at herself before leaning over to turn her lamp off and adjusting her position to get more comfortable. She then closed her eyes and hummed before her mind went straight to how thankful she was to Holtzmann and she peacefully fell asleep.

In downtown Brooklyn, on the fourth floor of one of the village's nicest buildings, Rachael Ray was playing on the Food Network. Across from the telly on the sofa, sat Kevin Beckman, with a bowl of chips in his lap. He waited for the lime green facial mask he had on to dry before he would get up and rinse it off, feeling the softness of his own skin afterward.

When he returned to his bedroom, he turned the TV off and sat down in the middle of the floor. He crossed his legs and rested his hands on his knees, closing his eyes for a brief meditation. As he relaxed himself and let slow air blow out of his mouth, he pictured the ladies he worked with. He saw himself fighting ghosts with them and a smile grew on his face as he wished and hoped Abby would remember her promise to let him join next time they caught a ghost.

His smile grew even wider when he thought of Abby and his eyes opened. He slowly stood, stretched his arms and walked over to the bureau near the window. He picked up the picture he had taken with the ghostbusters a few weeks ago just to get a good look at it before bed. Sighing, he set it down and sauntered over to lay down in his bed.

The moment his head hit the pillow, he heard a knock on his door. He groaned and looked at his watch-less wrist. "It's the middle of the night." He told himself before leisurely standing back up to walk to the door. "Who is it?" He yelled through it.

"It's Sarah! Please open up, Kevin!"

"Do you even know what time it is?" He asked her. "It's bedtime."

"It's an emergency!" The girl frantically responded.

He looked through the peephole, seeing nothing but black then realized he had forgotten to remove the cover of the peephole before looking into it. Scoffing at himself, he decided to just open the door to see his hall neighbor in a panic. "What's the problem?" He asked her.

"Quick! You're a Ghostbuster, right?" She replied, looking down the hallway for a second then back to him.

"No, actually I'm-" He stopped himself...seeing this as a chance to prove himself to Abby. "Yes, I am." For some unknown reason, he recited what he'd say if he were answering the phone at work. "Ghostbusters. We answer the call. How can we help you?"

Too frightened to care and too mesmerized by his good looks, Sarah stepped into his apartment without his invitation and told him what was going on.


	9. Rescue

"Why do we have to go to this thing?" Holtzmann whined to Abby, Patty, and Erin as they drove the Ecto-mobile through the streets of New York City. 

"Because, we were invited by the mayor and it could help us look good if we showed up." Abby smirked, proud of what they had become.

"And why didn't we bring Kevin?" Erin asked from the passenger seat.

"Please! He'd make a fool of us all." The bitter blonde responded with a bit more hostility than intended from the seat directly behind her.

"He would not!" Gilbert protested. causing a small snicker to come from Holtzmann's throat.

"Yeah. Okay."

"What's that supposed to mean?" 

"Guys." Abby looked back and forth between the two with fear. Patty, in the driver's seat, swallowed nervously and she turned to see the confusion on Erin's face beside her.

"Nothin.' Nothin.' Nevermind." Jillian waved it off and she continued to look out the window as they drove by all the people of New York. 

"I mean, I know he has his problems, but he wouldn't make fools of us, Holtzy. I think that's over-dramatizing it just a bit." The brunette looked down at herself and wondered why she had chosen this dress to wear and why these uncomfortable shoes.

"I'm not over-dramatizing anything." The peculiar woman fought back.

"Oh, please. You over-dramatize EVERYTHING!" The tone in Erin's voice grew to be a bit more vicious and a part of her was starting to forget what they were even talking about in the first place. 

"Is there something wrong with that?" Jill asked with resentment.

"Ladies, can we please?" Yates tried controlling the situation between her two best friends, but felt as though she were failing.

"Uh, we're here." Patty awkwardly interrupted.

"Good." Jillian stepped out of the car as fast as possible, followed by Erin who, upon seeing Holtzmann for the first time tonight, stopped feeling angry immediately. She couldn't help but look at the woman from head to toe, shocked at her appearance. It wasn't until now, Gilbert realized she hadn't a clue where they were even going. But it was clearly something very fancy, she could tell by Jillian's attire. 

Erin was mostly shocked to see her friend's unexpectedly long hair and the way it flowed down passed her shoulders. The long, classical, royal blue dress fell almost passed the shorter woman's feet, but her heels made it possible to walk. Gilbert looked down at herself once more, now understanding why she had dressed so formally and she looked to her right, seeing Abby and Patty get out of the car in nice gowns as well. She cleared her throat before looking back to Holtzmann feeling butterflies forming in her gut. Her mouth was agape and before she could say anything, she noticed Jillian was still upset when she slammed the car door shut.

SLAM!

Erin's eyes snapped open and she shot up in her bed. "Erin! Erin, get up! You gotta go get Holtzy!" A familiar voice was heard after Gilbert's bedroom door swung open.

"What?" The barely awake brunette rubbed her eyes and as she blinked them back into focus, she saw Abby sitting beside her on her own bed. "What's going on?" She yawned, suddenly remembering her strange dream. 

"I can't explain right now! All I can say is Kevin's in trouble and you need to go get Holtzy while I get Patty! Come on!" Gilbert's longtime best friend shook her to wake her up some more and letting out a second yawn, she grabbed Abby's arms.

"Okay, okay. Stop. I'm up!" She put both hands on her cheeks before Yates stood and she followed. She quickly threw on the outfit she had ready for the next day, considering it was right on the end of her bed anyway, and Abby practically dragged her out the door. "Wait a minute!" She whispered to Abby as they ran down her apartment hallway. "How did you get into my apartment?" 

"Ummm....doesn't matter right now." Yates responded as they continued to rush down the stairs. 

When Erin arrived at Holtzmann's address, she was annoyed at the fact that Abby hadn't told her exactly what was going on. Again, she knew how Holtzy was about her sleep and she wished she knew more details in order to motivate the blonde to join them in an attempt to save Kevin. 

Walking into the apartment building, Gilbert was suddenly reminded of her dream tonight. What did it mean? And why was her dream version of Holtzmann so spiteful and antagonistic? Yet, why did she picture her with that dress and that hair? Erin knew Holtzy pretty well, she thought. She'd only known her to have crazy, shorter hair and her style of clothing was unique, baggy, and a bit masculine. Even if they WERE headed to a fancy event, Gilbert suspected she'd wear a nice pantsuit or something close to it. On the elevator going up to the sixth floor, Erin thought to herself she were maybe being a little too judgmental or her dreams were just trying to mess with her. But she shook her head at the annoying thought and couldn't imagine why her subconscious had pictured Jillian as such a pretty woman. 

She reached Holtzmann's floor and got off the elevator, keeping her eyes down from a strange looking man stepping onto the device after her. Running to Jill's apartment door, she wondered why Abby expected her to be able to get Holtzmann to go with them, let alone wake up just to answer her door. She was clearly not as pushy as Abby were and she already expected to fail in the attempt, but decided she'd try anyway. 

She finally made it to the blonde's apartment and the determined scientist began pounding on the door. "Holtzmann! Holtzmann, it's me, Erin!" She waited a second for a response. Nothing. She knocked again. "Get up! We have to go save Kevin from something!"

"Hey! Shut up out there!" She heard a cranky old woman yelling from across the hall. 

"Oh, you be quiet!" Erin awkwardly yelled back at the door behind her. "This is an emergency!" She turned and banged on Jillian's door once more before cautiously looking back to see if the neighbor's door would swing open.

"Emergency, my-"

Before Jill's neighbor could finish, her door opened and Holtzmann yelled, "Oh, shut up, Mrs. Coleman!" Turning to see the blonde, Erin was taken aback at her friend's appearance and she just stood there for a moment. "What is it?" The exhausted ghostbuster squinted her eyes as she wasn't fully awake yet. 

"You, um..." Gilbert stared at the other woman's hair. "You have-" Before she could finish her sentence, Jillian blushed and reached a tired hand up to notice that, in her attempt to put her pins quickly in her hair before seeing Erin at her door when she awoke, she had missed a thick strand of hair and she suddenly felt exposed. She grabbed the piece and shoved it up underneath a bobby pin, finding it hard to look into Erin's eyes afterward. "Uh, we gotta go." The brunette's eyes were wide as she wondered how her dream was right and she stood, waiting for Jillian to go with her. 

"Um...uh, okay. Let me grab a couple things first." Jillian, silently panicking that Erin had just found out about her hair, turned and went back inside, grabbing shoes, a jacket, and her spare yellow goggles. Then they were gone.

They met up with Abby and Patty, who had went and gotten the Ecto-mobile with their equipment, at Kevin's apartment building in Brooklyn and all of the tenants were in a panic on the streets. Looking up to the fourth floor windows, they all saw flashing lights before asking a tall man with red hair where they could find a manager. After finding one, the ladies walked over to him, asking what had happened. "I don't know!" He responded, still looking up at the window. "Ask her!" He pointed to a woman in her early twenties with dark black hair. 

"Hello, miss?" Abby said, approaching the frightened girl. "Can you tell us what happened?" 

"I don't know! I just-I heard a strange noise coming from down the hall and when I went to check it out, I heard screaming and then all of a sudden, Sarah went flying threw her door."

"Sarah? Who's Sarah?" Erin asked.

"My neighbor. I-I think it's Mary Anne." She whispered the last part.

"Wait. I thought it was Sarah?" Patty wondered.

"No, Sarah is my neighbor, yes. But Mary Anne is the woman who died in that apartment last year." The young girl exclaimed.

"Ohhhh..." Jillian couldn't help but smile as she held on tight to her proton pack. "Okay, gotcha."

"Is Kevin Beckman up there?" Erin asked, looking up at the flashing lights.

"Kevin? Yeah, he's up there. He's the one who threw Sarah through the door."

"Gah!" Abby said quietly to her fellow ghostbusters. "Why is he always getting possessed?" 

"Hey, I wouldn't say anything if I were you." Patty scolded, recalling the time Abby was taken over by Rowan, the creepy guy from their first case.

With a small given side eye, Abby shut her mouth and held onto her proton pack as well. "Let's go get us another Kevin possessor!" And the ghostbusters ran in to the rescue.


	10. Possessed

Abigail Yates, Erin Gilbert, Patricia Tolan, and Jillian Holtzmann ran as fast as they could into the apartment building, their proton packs ready, in hand. When they entered, they headed straight for the elevator. Once they reached it, both Abby and Erin reached for the button, but stopped when they noticed the other one going for it. "Oh, you can-" Erin began.

"No, no. You go." Abby said politely.

"You can-"

"How about someone just pushes the button?" Patty suggested with a sarcastic shrug of the shoulder.

"I'LL do it." Jillian leaned in and pushed it, the petite light bulb inside lit up and when she pulled back she looked to Erin and Abby who tried to pretend like nothing happened. Erin's eyes quickly looked to Holtzmann and she accidentally pictured her in the dream she was having before Abby interrupted. When Gilbert noticed Jillian still looking at her from the button incident, she awkwardly smiled at the blonde and quickly averted her eyes, waiting for the elevator doors to open.

After a few seconds, there was still no sign of the machine cooperating with their hasty situation and Abby rolled her eyes. "Ugh! How is it taking so long? We're the only ones in here!" She whined before feeling Patty grabbing her arm and pulling her to the right. 

"Come on! Let's just take the stairs." Tolan ran toward the staircase, the other three women followed with audible sighs. 

Feeling the sweat on her forehead, Erin blew a slow breath of air out of her mouth and she stopped for a second to catch her breath. "No. Come on." Holtzmann, coming up from behind her, put a hand on her back. "Let's go." Erin looked at her with, what seemed to be, a hint of an admirable grin. "Come on." Jillian patted the brunette's shoulder and continued up the stairs, passing Erin. Gilbert couldn't help but watch her catch up to Patty and Abby in front of them and she barely shrugged before taking in a deep breath and beginning to run again.

When Patty and Abby reached the fourth floor before the other two, they turned the first corner, surprised to see one of the building's tenants laying face down on the floor. They ran around him and continued to run down the hall, unaware that the other two were a few strides behind them. At the top of the stairs, Jillian waited for Erin to reach the top before letting her go ahead of her and running around the corner themselves. Erin ran with so much momentum, she didn't even notice the face down man as she widely turned to run down the hall towards Kevin's apartment. Holtzmann, however with her awkward run, took a sharp turn around the corner. Not seeing the guy on the ground, she tripped over him but got up as fast as possible and continuing to run. She pretended she did not see all three of the other Ghostbusters turn and see her small body spread across the unconscious man's, but she knew they did and she caught up to them as if nothing happened. 

As she approached the group, Gilbert faintly asked, "Are you okay?" 

"Oh yeah." She nodded, ignoring the pain in her right knee. "I'm good." The grip she had on her proton gun tightened and she turned to Patty and Abby. "Let's do this!" She shouted, facing Kevin's, now door-less, apartment. 

The four of them had their guns in hand as they began to slowly walk through the entrance. They stepped over broken glass and looked around the apartment for any sign of Kevin or Sarah. "Do you hear that?" Erin suddenly whispered to the other three. 

"Hm?" Abby's ears perked up.

"What?" Patty looked around as she tried to listen more intently.

It was silent for a moment as they strained to hear anything. Nothing. "I don't hear anything." Jillian shook her head.

"Shh..." Erin put a hand up and looked down to the floor to listen harder. "There! Did you hear it?" 

Holtz and Abby looked to each other, shaking their heads and Patty shrugged her shoulders. "I don't hear nothin.'" 

"Sh. Sh." Gilbert listened once more with her eyes closed and she turned, running out of Kevin's apartment and to the one beside it. Jill, Pat, and Abby followed with uncertainty and stopped right outside the closed door with Erin. They all put their ears next to the door. "It sounds like..." Abby began.

"Crying." Patty finished.

Erin nodded as if to say 'I told you so' and they all looked around at each other wondering what to do. The tallest of the four shrugged again before putting her dark hand on the doorknob and attempting to open it. It was locked. "Still got that swiss army knife Holtzmann gave you?" Abby nodded to Gilbert who reached into her pocket to pull out the red weapon.

"You mean this one?" She asked in an unintentional flirtatious tone while looking at the short blonde beside her. Holtz felt herself blushing.

Yates grabbed the device from her and opened to one of the blades. She grimaced at the knife, not too proud of what she was about to do and leaned over, picking the lock. "Abby!" Patty exclaimed. "You know how to pick locks?" Tolan was shocked.

"It's not something I'm proud of."

"Really, Abs?" Erin scolded. "That's how you got into my apartment tonight, isn't it?" 

Jillian's face lit up and her mouth lay open as she smiled, flicking her tongue to the side of her mouth in amusement. When the door opened, Erin and Patty looked to each other and shook their heads at their friend. Even though she was quite ashamed of herself, Abigail smirked as she watched the door slowly open. When they looked into, what they assumed was Sarah's apartment, they were shocked to see the whole of the apartment so dark and they felt a cold chill when they walked in. "Kevin?" Abby called out, walking slightly ahead of the other three. They continued to hear the cries and upon approaching the small living room, they found Sarah laying in the middle of the floor, knocked out. "Gosh, that's weird." Abby whispered.

"What?" Patty wondered.

"I thought she was the one crying." Yates said.

"Yeah, so?" All three of the others just looked at her in confusion.

"If she's unconscious and we still hear crying...that means it's Kevin."

"Oh." Erin and Patty said in unison while Holtzmann awkwardly nodded with a bit of a chuckle.

"Wait, sh." Abby was now the one shushing everyone. She turned her body toward one of the two bedroom doors. "It's coming from over here." She walked over to the door and the others followed. "Mary Anne?" Abby knocked on the door before slowly opening it. She called for the woman who had apparently died the year before.

As the door was finally all the way open, it revealed Kevin pacing around the room. At one point, he stopped and put a hand on the wall as if feeling its texture, then began pacing again all the while he was still sobbing. Abby put a foot in the door to enter the room, but the moment she crossed the threshold, Kevin's crying stopped and he angrily turned to face the four women. "You! This is your fault!" 

"Mary Anne, is that you?" Abby said with a soft tone, trying not to disturb the spirit inside of their receptionist.

He...or she started crying again. "And now she's all alone."

"Hey, um...we don't know who you're talking about, but if you'd just get out of our friend and tell us, we could help yo-"

"NO!" Came an eerily loud shriek. "You've done enough!" Patty and Erin, and even Jillian, felt shivers down their spines. "I have to find her. I have to go find her."

"We'll help you find her." Abby suggested. "Who is sh-" Before she could even finish, the ghost inside of Kevin allowed the human body it possessed to supernaturally break the window in the room and fly out of it. All four women watched in amazement before turning to look at each other and wonder what had just happened. Abby and Holtzmann ran over to the look out at the city while Patty and Erin went back to the living room to see if they could help Sarah, who was slowly waking. 

The young, red-haired girl, in about her mid-twenties, put a hand on the back of her head as she slowly sat up. "Ugh!" She expressed her pain. "Where did it go?" She asked about the apparition.

"We don't know." Patty replied, helping her up. 

"You alright?" Erin wondered. 

"I think I have a concussion." She admitted, wobbling a bit when she finally stood.

"There's an ambulance outside. We'll take you down there." Patricia held onto the woman's arm as both she and Erin assisted in the girl's walking. 

Abby and Jillian rejoined them in the living room and they all headed for the door. When they turned to head toward the stairs, they saw the man they had passed sitting up and leaning against the wall. "Ugh!" He exclaimed. "I feel like I got body slammed."

"Yeah, that was probably from getting uh....trampled by the panic of people running out of the building." Holtzmann tried to cover up the time she tripped over him and she ignored the looks she received from her coworkers. 

Shaking her head at her best friend, Patty asked him, "Can you stand?" 

"Yeah. Yeah. I think so." He used the wall as an anchor to get up and when he did, he blinked a few times, hoping to get rid of the head rush he felt after standing and soon he was fine enough to walk down to the paramedics with the others.


	11. Mary Anne

"'Mary Anne Alma...'" Abby began at her computer. Holtzmann, Erin, and Patty all stood behind Yates' desk, reading over her shoulder as she continued to read out loud. "'...died of breast cancer in her apartment on the night of January 7th, 2015. Her infant daughter, Kaylee, will be left to no one as there are no known living relatives.'" Abby stopped reading to comment. "Oh, how sad. That must've been who she was talking about when she said 'she was all alone now.'" She continued to read. "'Sources say that Ms. Alma never mentioned the father of her child.'"

"She died of breast cancer?" Erin asked. "But, that wouldn't explain why she said 'this is your fault' and 'you've done enough.'" She straightened her posture and walked around Abby's desk with her hands on her hips. 

"Yeah, that was weird." Patty remembered.

"Maybe she WAS talking to us." Holtzmann suggested with uncertainty in her voice as she walked away from Yates' desk as well.

"I don't know. That was strange." Abby said, standing up from her chair. "We've gotta figure out where she went with Kevin's body."

"Mmm," Erin couldn't help but close her eyes and smile. "...nice body." She whispered. Her eyes shot open and she jumped when she heard a loud crash, as did Abby and Patty. They looked to see Holtzmann, near Kevin's desk, slamming his cup of pencils down on the wooden table. She grunted and looked right into Erin's confused eyes. 

The awkward silence and the stares she received from all of her friends caused a lump to rise in Holtzmann's throat and she cleared it before speaking, when all of a sudden, an idea popped into her head. "I think I know where she went." 

"Where?" Erin responded a little too quickly.

"She sounded like she was grieving for her tiny human, right?" Baby, she meant baby. "Or...whatever that feeling is of deep sadness and pity for another." 

"Yeah." Abby nodded, wanting her to get to the point.

"Well," Jillian began to walk around while she talked, "...she would go somewhere to maybe see her daughter again, right? So, she could be in a place she would THINK her daughter was...even if she didn't know exactly where she was. But she would still try to go to a place she believed she was, even if she wasn't." She stopped and looked at the bewildered looks on their faces. "Right?" She asked with a grin.

"Um..." Erin seemed as though she were trying to figure it out in her head and she began to look like she was understanding some of Holtzmann's awkward speech. She nodded. "What?" 

"You know..." The blonde strangely moved as if they should know what she was thinking.

"Holtzy, what are you sayin?'" Patty asked with a hint of frustration.

"I think she's trying to say that Mary Anne went somewhere to-"

Erin interrupted with an excited clap of her hands. "The orphanage!" She shouted and Jillian nodded, pointing at her.

"The orphanage." Abby agreed with a smile. "Holtzmann, you genius." She sat back down in her chair, looking up the city orphanages closest to Brooklyn. 

"Well, I try." Holtz said in a bored tone.

"We may not find her exactly, but we can at least find out what orphanages she'd possibly be at and find out if she's there or not." Abigail smirked, loving the brains that ran this operation. 

Knowing they couldn't visit the orphanages at three in the morning, the ladies stayed the night in the station and planned to look for Mary Anne the next day. As they finished setting up four areas on the first floor for them to sleep with as much padding as they could find around the building, Erin thought of something. "We should actually have night shifts."

"What?" Abby asked as she laid down. 

"Yeah. Someone should do night shifts in case of a late night ghost emergency like this one. And we should put some beds in that extra room upstairs like the firemen did." 

"That's actually a great idea." Patty agreed, then laying her head on her large duffel bag.

"What do you think?" Gilbert asked her highschool friend. 

"Yeah. I think it's a brilliant idea." Yates responded, closing her eyes.

"What about you, Holtz? Would you be up for a few night shifts?" Erin turned to see the blonde already fast asleep in her spot, loud snores coming from her nose and she slightly shrugged, laying down in her own area on the cold floor. She stared up at the ceiling and thought about her dream and the shock of finding out how long Jillian's hair really was. Erin wondered why Holtzy didn't want anyone to know that small detail about herself, but she shrugged it off. She sighed and got more comfortable before closing her eyes and attempting to fall asleep.

When morning came, Erin awoke to find Abby and Patty were still sound asleep. She looked to the spot behind her, expecting to see Holtzmann still sleeping as well. She was wrong, the spot was empty and it was as if no one had even slept in that spot through the night. She quietly sat up and attempted to stand without waking the other two. After picking up her area, she set the small tarp that came with the station on top of her desk and tip-toed toward the stairs, knowing Holtz was probably up in her lab. When she reached the top step, she heard Holtz talking and wondered if it was to herself and she wouldn't be surprised if it were. 

She peaked around the door to look in and see Holtz in the middle of a serious conversation on her cell phone. Erin didn't even know Holtz had a phone. "I just really hope we don't have to." Pause. "I know." Another pause. "Okay. Alright, well if we do. I'll, uh...I'll see you there then." Jill sighed. "Bye bye, Rebecca." She hung up the phone and let out an annoyed groan. 

The brunette who stood outside the door saw Holtzmann heading toward the exit and she panicked, trying to make it look like she wasn't just eavesdropping. She turned around as if to go down the stairs, but changed her mind and decided to head to the other side of the door towards their lockers, but she was too late and she bumped right into Jillian. "Oh. Oh, sorry."

"Erin." The blonde nodded, refusing to look the taller woman in the eye and she walked passed her, heading down to the first floor. 

Shocked at the woman's behavior, Erin stayed at the top of the stairs for a moment, remembering who Rebecca was. She was Holtzmann's mentor who helped Holtzy build their ghost containment unit. The one who had hair just as crazy as Jillian's. Unaware of what any of that conversation was about, she pinched the bridge of her nose, wondering what she was even doing and why Holtzmann had suddenly taken up such a big chunk of her thoughts. Sighing, she turned and followed the blonde down the stairs, minding her own business.

When they both reached the bottom of the staircase, both Patty and Abby had woken up and they all got ready to go out to the orphanages and search for Mary Anne/Kevin.


	12. Looking For Kaylee

It was almost noon and the ladies hadn't found the orphanage with Kaylee, nor had they found Kevin and Mary Anne anywhere. At their fourth foster home, Jillian was beginning to get anxious and Erin seemed to be the only one who noticed. Until Holtz broke...."Can't we just hire a detective or ask the mayor to pull some strings? I'm tired of going to all of these little prisons for poor undeserving children."

"Holtzmann!" Gilbert scolded as they stood outside the building. 

"What? I'm sorry, I just feel that children shouldn't have to be subjected to this type of pain before they even hit puberty." The blonde squinted her eyes because of the brightness of the sun and she looked at the Ecto-Mobile. She pulled her yellow goggles down over her eyes and walked away from the other three, heading for the hearse and getting into the driver's seat. 

The other ghostbusters watched her as she walked away. Patty wasn't too shocked by the behavior as she knew she was having some issues at the moment because of Erin anyway, but Gilbert however was really concerned about what was going on. Abby looked down at her feet feeling her coworkers' eyes on her as she stood between them. "Holtzmann's an orphan."

Patty's eyes widened and Erin gasped before saying, "Seriously?"

Abby sadly nodded. "Her parents died in a fire when she was eight." With that, Yates walked over to the car and hopped in the passenger seat, leaving the other two to their thoughts on the sidewalk. Patty and Erin reluctantly followed Abigail back to the car and got in the back seats after exchanging saddened eye contact. The ride to the next foster care center was silent and Holtzmann felt the tension in the vehicle as well as in the back of her throat when that feeling of wanting to cry had emerged once again. 

When they arrived, she was the last one to get out of the car, remembering this place all too well. "Hey..." Abby pointed to one of the cars parked near the Ecto-Mobile, "...isn't that your mentor's car?" She asked Holtzy when the blonde joined them on the other side of the hearse.

"Yupp. She's the science tutor here." Holtzmann reached both arms up to stretch before beginning to walk toward her old home. "This is where we met." She ignored the looks she could feel the other three giving each other from behind her and continued to walk up to the door. 

When they all stepped inside, they looked around for anyone who could help them and who else was in the entrance hall other than Rebecca Gorin. She turned and saw the ladies, her face lit up upon seeing Holtzmann brave her way back into the building. The six foot tall scientist approached the four ladies. "Hello. Welcome back, Jillian. When we talked on the phone this morning, I didn't think you'd actually come." She smirked at the blonde. "I'd hug you, but you know we don't do that."

"No, we don't." Holtz chuckled. 

"Wait. You called her and told her we were coming?" Abby asked. Erin's eyes slightly widened as she now understood the phone conversation from this morning.

"Yes, well...She was hoping to maybe get my help." Rebecca replied. "Come this way, I'll show you to our director's office." She began to lead them down the hall when suddenly, crowds of children had begun running toward the director's room as well. 

Looking at the kids run by, Abby and the others had begun to hustle toward the commotion. Once they made it to Mr. Delany was being held in the air by his throat. "Kevin! Mary Anne, you put him down!" Abby yelled, pushing through all of the children. 

"He won't tell me where she is!" The large and possessed hunk protested. 

"He's probably not allowed to." Holtzmann spoke when she made her way next to Abigail.

"Come on. Don't punish the poor man for doing his job." Yates demanded. "Please...just put him down and we'll help you find Kaylee." Kevin/Mary Anne turned to finally look at Abby and the look of anger in the human's eyes subsided. "Yes, that's right. We know about your baby." Mr. Delany was lowered to the floor and finally set free. He ran away from the possessed man as fast as possible. 

"Wow! He's strong!" One of the children exclaimed from right outside the door. 

"Alright, kids. Why don't we leave Mr. Strongman alone with these nice ladies, okay?" Mr. Delany, with a hand on his pained neck, tried to gesture to the children to get out and he shut the door when they all groaned. "Dr. Gorin, what is going on here?" He asked Rebecca with a hint of anger in his tone.

"Um, well you see...this man is under a, um..." She tried to think of a good way to break it to him.

"He's possessed." Patty just came right out with the truth. "And the dead lady that's got control of him just wants to know where her daughter is and if she's okay." Tolan looked to Kevin's body. "Right?" 

"I've been looking all over the city for my little sweet pea. But no one will cooperate with me." Mary Anne's spirit accidentally caused some papers to fly off of Delany's desk. 

"Whoa! Calm down!" Patty spoke in a, surprisingly gentle voice.

"Okay, okay. Listen to me, Mary Anne." Jillian began to take a few steps further into the room. 

Erin tried grabbing her arm, but Holtz ripped it away. "Holtz! Holtz!" Gilbert whispered with intensity.

"Sh..it's fine. I got it." She put a hand up to the women behind her, telling them it was okay. "I get it, Mary Anne. I do. I know what you're going through. Not being able to find the ones you love."

"Oh, yeah? How? Was your life taken and the ability to see your child made impossible?" The ghost asked with frustration.

"No. But my parents were taken from me." Kevin's face dropped to one of pity and understanding. "You miss your daughter and you're just hoping she's out there somewhere safe and happy. Not alone and you wonder if she knows about you and if she's gonna remember to love you."

"It's more than that. I need to know that she's not with him." Mary Anne admitted.

"Not with whom?" Erin asked, moving forward to stand beside Holtzmann.

"Her father?" Patty wondered, stepping forward as well, standing on the left side of Erin.

"Wait, I thought you never told anyone who the father was anyway?" Gilbert jumped in.

"I didn't. But when I got sick, he found out and tried to take her." The deceased woman responded.

"But that's good. He was trying to help, right?"

"He's unstable and he's never been fit to be a father. You don't understand." 

"I do." Abby stepped forward now. "My dad was a jerk. He was a military man, never wanted children. He was constantly yelling or drinking. The PTSD really got to him. My mom once told me she wished he wasn't my father. I get it, I do. And we will help you, but...you've gotta give us our friend, Kevin back. Please?" 

At first, Kevin/Mary Anne looked hesitant, but soon they watched Beckman's body fall to the floor. While he laid there, the others looked up at Mary Anne's ghost hovering over him. "Ummm..." Everyone looked at Mr. Delany. "What's your daughter's name?" 

"Kaylee Diana Alma." The apparition answered. "She's only a year old."

Sighing, the director ignored the rules for once, knowing these women probably wouldn't tell anyone that he broke the rules and he spoke again. "She was adopted by a nice family a few months ago." He walked over to one of his filing cabinets and pulled out the file on Kaylee and her family. After closing the drawer, he flipped through some of the paper work. "I do remember her father trying to get custody of her at one point. And then one day he just suddenly stopped trying all of a sudden."

"That's a redundant statement." Dr. Gorin rolled her eyes, constantly having to correct him was beginning to exhaust her. 

The man ignored her and went on. "Here it is." He pulled out a specific piece of paper from the stack and read from it. "'Theodore Jenkins, father of Kaylee Alma, was admitted to the Robert S. Hawkins Institute for the mentally unstable on November 23, 2015. After contacting his relatives on the case of his bad behavior, he was transferred to Perkins Psychiatric Ward in Prescott, Arizona where he could be closer to family.'" Director Delany put the page back in the folder, closed it and returned it to its place in the filing cabinet. "So, Miss?"

"Mary Anne." Abby whispered to him. 

"Miss Mary Anne, I don't think you have anything to worry about." He smiled at the ghost, secretly thinking to himself that this was the strangest dream he had ever had. He swallowed deeply before walking over to the door and stepping out to get a drink of water....or maybe something stronger. 

"So, she's safe?" Mary Anne asked with contentment in her tone and a hopeful smile.

"She is safe." Jillian smiled and reassured her. 

The spirit sadly grinned back and she turned to look out the office window. After sighing, though her ghostly lungs didn't need the oxygen, she looked back to Holtzmann and floated closer to her. The others backed up, but Jill stood still, wanting her closer for some reason. Needing her closer. They just looked into each other's sad eyes for a moment before giving each other a smile and Mary Anne's spirit disappeared in a sheet of bright, white light.

Rebecca, Abby, Patty, and Erin closed their eyes and looked away to avoid being blinded. Holtzmann, however, watched her leave as her yellow goggles aided in not blinding her as much. After the light was gone, Erin was the first one to look back to her friend and she moved forward once more. Standing beside the blonde, she didn't know what to do or say, so she just slowly and awkwardly brought a hand up to hold Jillian's shoulder. When the quirky engineer felt the contact, she turned to barely see Erin over her shoulder and she shrugged her shoulder, forcing Gilbert to let go of her and she turned, leaving the building before the others.


	13. Too Much Pain

The Ghostbusters solemnly entered their station with gloom and each of them had several thoughts running through their heads. Kevin was still trying to recover from his second time dealing with a possession, Patty wondered why Holtzy had never told her she was an orphan or that Rebecca worked at her orphanage. Meanwhile, Abby couldn't get her mind off of how things were left with Mary Anne and Jillian just wanted to go up to her lab, play with some of her toys and get away from everyone for a while. Erin was the only one who actually spoke her thoughts the moment she walked into the building behind Holtzmann. 

With a hand on the blonde's shoulder, Gilbert said, "I'm really proud of you. I'm sure that was really hard for you. But you did great."

"I didn't even do anything." Holtz didn't turn her head, but she did look at Erin through the corner of her eye, wishing and hoping she would get her hand off of her. Her wish came true.

"What do you mean you didn't do anything?" Gilbert excitedly let go of the woman's shoulder and she stepped in front of all of them, turning around to walk in backwards while looking at her colleagues. "You did something none of us have ever done!" When she noticed the looks of confusion she received from each of them, she retaliated to make her statement more clear. "You helped a ghost move on. All we've ever done is capture ghosts. You gave someone the strength to go to the other side on their own. That's pretty incredible!"

Not really believing she even did much to help Mary Anne, Jillian's brows furrowed in confusion but she half accepted the scholar's words anyway. "It is?" She moved her eyes around, wondering if Patty and Abby were picking up on Erin's statements as well. She couldn't tell.

"Yes! Of course it is!" Gilbert finally turned back around and took a few more steps forward before stopping in her tracks. Her face lit up before she even turned around a second time and the other four saw her mouth wide open with a smile. "You know what this means?" She excitedly whispered with a small nod.

"No? What?" Abigail looked at her best friend with perplexity while she continued to move toward her own desk.

Erin made a small jump in the air and the moment she landed, her feet began to move around as well as her dancing fingers. "It's time for a celebration dance!" She made her way over to their first floor stereo and she put a hand on the power button.

"I don't know, Gilbert." Patty shook her head at her desk. "I'm too tired to dance."

"Alright, fine. The other three will dance with me. Right, guys?" She pressed the button and a random song began to play as she danced around the area she stood in.

"Nah. I'm just gonna sit down and, uh...do some more research." Her highschool buddy began.

"What? Come on, Abby! Let's dance!" It wasn't until now that even Erin, herself, realized she was acting like this to try and keep Holtzmann's mood up after the day she had had. "Holtzmann?" She looked at the blonde with hope and made a gesture with a come hither motion. "You owe me a dance." 

Despite all the feelings that ran through Jillian's heart and brain, she couldn't prevent the redness from rising in her cheeks, nor could she stop her body temperature from transitioning from that of a healthy child's to a sick horse's. Watching her subject of an infatuation dance around with joy and enthusiasm made her feel butterflies in her stomach once again and an unintentional grin grew on her face. The moment Gilbert noticed the smile, her own smile grew and Jillian couldn't resist the urge to let the music take her away. And by 'away,' this meant closer to, a still dancing, Erin Gilbert. The two danced for a bit while Patty watched with a smirk and Abby bopped her head to the beat at her computer. Kevin leaned against his desk, slightly hitting his head every now and then to get rid of the fuzzy feeling he had from the possession. 

After a couple of minutes, he moved away from the desk and Erin looked over at him. "Hey, Kevin! You gonna dance with us?" Jillian turned her head from the brunette and rolled her eyes, continuing to dance with odd and expressive moves.

"No. I'm just going to the bathroom." He put a finger in his ear and wiggled it as if he had heard a ringing. Closing his eyes, he hit his head once more and headed for the bathroom.

This caused Erin's smile to fade and her dancing suddenly slowed down as she watched him walk away. The moment he was out of sight, she only swayed side to side as she spoke. "What is wrong with me?" She asked the other ladies in a hushed tone, hoping he wouldn't hear her. "Am I really that repulsive?" She looked to Abby who shrugged, missing the shaking of Patty's head from her own desk. "What? What do I have to do to get his attention?" 

"That's enough dancing for me!" The blonde awkwardly made her way to the radio and she dramatically pushed the power button, cutting the song short and Erin's awkward swaying slowly subsided as she stared at Holtzmann. Jillian walked passed Gilbert and she stopped at Kevin's desk on her way to the stairs. Picking up one of his pencils, she turned to look at Erin who still watched her with disorientation and let the utensil fall to the floor. Just before turning to head up the stairs, she slammed her fist down on Beckman's wooden table and left. 

Patty closed her eyes and let her head drop in disappointment. Her arms were folded and leaning forward against her desk. She couldn't help but notice a stinging in her own eyes as her heart was beginning to break for the poor little weirdo. 

"What happened?" Gilbert asked once Holtzmann reached the top of the stairs.

"You don't get it, do you?" Tolan calmly broke. Erin looked to her, seeing the woman's face staring down at the table in front of her. "Either of you?" She lifted her head, looking to Abby, who was oblivious to anything that had just happened when her fingers were fast at work on the keyboard. "Hey! Yates!" Patricia called out.

"Huh? What?" The scientist pushed her glasses up to her face some more.

"Psh!" The dark woman shook her head with a frustrated smile. 

"What? What'd you say?" Abigail asked, taking her hands away from the computer. 

Erin stared at Tolan with bewilderment when she didn't respond. "Patty, what don't we get?"

There was now a battle going on in Patricia Tolan's mind. She told Holtz she wouldn't tell anyone...not even Abby. But everything was beginning to be too much for the only one with any common sense in this group. It was amusing at first...but now seeing the pain it was causing her friend was beginning to cause her pain as well. Plus, seeing the hint of pain in Erin's eyes everytime she had bombed with Kevin added to it. Patricia thought it was painful enough to see Abby so consumed in her work that she couldn't see what was right in front of her. And there was enough pain in just watching Kevin's screw ups in anything he did, including flirting with Abby. It was all just too painful and she wasn't sure if she could let it go on much longer. As she sat there at her desk, looking back and forth between the two clueless women, a war was being won in her head and she surrendered. "Holtzy wants you!" Her voice shook as she said it, but she felt the pressure in her head lighten when she did. 

"What?" Erin asked with a ridiculous smile when she reached her own desk in the corner of the room. 

"She likes you, man." The pressure lessened even more. "And I mean like, a lot!"

"Who? Me?" Gilbert pointed to herself. Abby's eyes widened as she now looked back and forth between the two women at their desks, feeling awkward sitting at the desk in the middle. 

"Yes. You!" Patty nodded twice. 

"What makes you think that?" The former professor felt her neck and cheeks growing warmer than the day everyone in school found out about her going to therapy for seeing ghosts. 

Tolan responded slowly, now realizing what she had just done. "She told me." There was no pride in her confession and the pressure that was subsiding had now begun to grow again. It only grew worse when Erin turned and ran up the stairs, skipping two steps at a time. In the corner of her brown eyes, Patricia could see Abby's mouth wide open in shock. Not wanting to spill anymore, Tolan put her head down in her hands that rested on the desk and she asked herself in her head, 'What have I done?'


	14. CRACK!

A plethora of emotions ran through Erin Gilbert as she made her way up to the funky engineer she thought she knew. Was Patty just playing a sick joke on her? What would Holtzmann say if it was all a lie? What if it were true? What would she say to Holtzmann? What did she even think of the blonde, herself? She couldn't tell anymore. Every thought in her head had gone fuzzy and it seemed as though this was another one of her strange dreams. She had had a lot about her friendship with the short woman she noticed. It wasn't until this moment that she realized that. Everytime she had dreamt about Holtz, it involved work or the other girls were in it at least. But now she recalled all of them centering around her and Jillian. Jillian? Why had that name not struck her before meeting the blonde? After getting to know Holtzmann a bit more, Erin had begun to like the name more than she did before knowing the woman herself. What did that even mean? What did any of this mean? She reached the top step and realized...she still hadn't a clue what she was going to say. 

Taking a deep breath, Gilbert felt a lump rise in her throat, the hairs on the back of her neck stood, and even though her body temperature had risen...she felt a chill and she shivered with nerves. This was all too much! Why had she run up there in the first place? She didn't even give herself a minute before impulsively heading toward the staircase. How would she even approach the strange genius with the news that she now knew her secret? She didn't even know how she felt about the news herself. 'How do I react to something like this?' She didn't want to break Holtzy's heart nor did she want to ask herself how to do so. 

In this moment, she hated her feet more than she ever had before when they disobeyed her brain and continued to enter the blonde's private lab. The moment she turned the corner into the room, she saw Jillian sitting at her table. Her head was rested in her hand and she leaned her elbow against the counter in front of her. The skin on her cheek was pushed up, forcing her right eye shut and her top lip was flipped up as if she were caught on a fish hook. While her right hand held the job of holding her head up, her left hand fiddled with the metal of the Nutcracker she had built, her pride and joy. 

"Uh, hey." Gilbert anxiously spoke with a shaky smile. She cleared her throat while she slowly walked closer to the other woman. Suddenly she felt nauseous, but fought it. "What's going on?" Her voice cracked and she swallowed after speaking.

Jill's only visible eye shot up to Gilbert and in a strange tone, she responded. "Nothing." 

Erin awkwardly nodded and she finally made her way to the spot across the table from Holtzmann with her hands oddly behind her back. She was about to start talking about Mary Anne when she remembered the day Holtzy had been having. This caused her to feel more sick as she felt her words about Kevin just moments ago probably made it even worse for her. Hmmm....Kevin. Gilbert looked down at the wooden surface between Holtz and herself and she began to understand how Jillian must feel. She knows what the woman must be thinking, because she had been having the same thoughts about Kevin. Wondering why they weren't together yet....wondering if he knew that she liked him...wondering if he ever thought about her or dreamed about her. Jillian probably wondered the same things. The queasiness in Gilbert's stomach grew, now knowing what Holtzmann must've been thinking all this time. 

'All this time? How long had she liked me?' Erin asked herself. Her strange behavior had been there the entire time they'd known each other, but she thought nothing of it. Maybe she didn't even like her that long, although...looking back, Erin did notice some things were said or done to her that she didn't catch Holtz doing with Patty or Abby. What was going on? She only gave HER a swiss army knife to protect herself at all times, not the other two. The moment she gave her that, she thought it was just a gesture of pity and maybe Holtz didn't think she was strong enough to take care of herself, but no. Now, it made sense. It all made more sense now. 

Erin was forced out of her thoughts when she was startled by the machine in front of Jillian going off when the blonde intentionally pressed the CRACK! button. Closing her eyes and feeling the butterflies in her gut, Erin took a deep breath. She now realized how long they'd been standing in silence and she opened her mouth to speak again. "Are you alright?" Jill finally put her hand down, giving her cheek a rest, and loudly groaned without an answer. "If there's anything you need to talk to me about...I'm here." Still, no answer...no eye contact. "You know that, right? You can tell me anything!" Gilbert tried to hint and CRACK! The brunette sighed. "Jillian."

The blonde's eyes closed and she barely whispered. "Please, don't call me that." It drove her crazy hearing her first name from the woman she loved and it was worse knowing she couldn't have her. 

"Okay. I'm sorry." The taller of the two corrected herself. "Holtzy. Please talk to me." 

Sighing, and finally picking her head up a bit more, she responded, "About what?" 

"I don't know. Anything?" Jill was about to press the button on the Nutcracker again, but Erin reached over the table and grabbed the pale woman's hand to stop her. "Or everything." Gilbert looked down at their touching skin, caught off guard by the warmth she felt in the contact.

The blonde shook, looking down at the contact herself and after a few seconds of comfort, she pulled her hand away before standing from her stool and taking a couple steps back. Finally looking into Erin's eyes, she started to realize something. Something a bit different in them. Something more....with more wisdom. "Everything?" She recoiled, sending Gilbert an accidental look from a puppy dog. 

The brunette softly smiled. "Yes. Everything."

Tears shot up through the sudden burning in her nose and filled her eyes, though she forced them to stay put. "Patty told you." She said it with certainty from observation.

"She...I-" Before Erin could finish, the blonde stormed out of the room, heading for the stairs. "Uh, Holtzmann!" The scholar whined while she walked away before following her. "Holtzmann, wait!" Now Gilbert felt tears in her own eyes as she watched her friend with so much anger and bottled up emotions. 

They made it to the bottom of the stairs and Kevin stood near his desk, eating an apple with a grin. Abby looked up from her computer, her eyes following the two women as they seemed to be heading for the door. Patty stood in the middle of the room, watching the blonde walking towards her. "Holtzmann..." The hurt and betrayed engineer walked right passed Patricia, acting as though the woman wasn't even standing there and she angrily grabbed her jacket near the door. 

"Holtzmann..." Erin called after her with grief. 

"I'm sorry." Patty stated when the front door was opened.

"I don't want to talk to you." Upon hearing the broken tone from Holtzy, Erin stopped chasing after her and she stood only a few feet in front of Patty as they watched her leave. 'Was she crying?' She asked herself, though she knew the answer.

The moment the door slammed, all three women were left speechless. Abby had stood from her chair in the event of Jillian grabbing her coat and taken a few steps around her desk. But she, as well as Patty and Erin, were frozen in their spots, staring at the door. "I've never seen her like that." Yates barely whispered loud enough for the rest to hear. Sighing, Gilbert slowly turned, looking up at Patricia. 

"What was all that about?" Kevin wondered before taking another bite of his apple.

No one answered him for a moment while Patty and Erin just stared at each other. Within a few seconds, Gilbert headed back to her desk while responding, "Nothing." She looked down at the floor while she walked.

"Are you and Julian fighting?" Beckman asked, immediately receiving a glare from Abby, who corrected him.

"Jillian, not Julian." 

"Oh. Yeah. That's what I meant." He took another bite and after swallowing, continued. "Does this mean you two are gonna break up?"

"What?"

"I'm sorry!"

"Huh?" 

All three women turned and looked at him with pure shock. Abby, the first one to exclaim, raised her eyebrows. Patty, who turned her ear to him, wondering if she had heard correctly, took a step closer to his desk. Erin, whose tears were already close to erupting from her eyes, finally let a few fall upon hearing his question and they all awaited his explanation.


	15. What To Do

Erin sniffled, wiping away a stray tear as she and the other two ladies gazed at Kevin while he continued to eat his apple. "Kevin, you thought that they were dating?" Abby asked while she leaned against her desk. 

"What? They weren't?" 

"Uh..." Patty began.

"No. No, they weren't." Yates shook her head no with a hint of a delirious smile. 

"Why did you think that?" Gilbert asked him.

"I don't know. Just the way she behaves around you. And the ways you look at each other." He took another bite. "I was always confused when you were flirting with me."

"I, uh...didn't even knew you'd noticed." She looked over to Abby, then to Patty, who were both thinking the same thing as her. He had shocked them all with this one, considering he was usually not too bright. He did get it wrong, but still...he had made better observations than Abby or Erin had.

"Yeah, well...I'm gonna go to my audition. See you girls later." His thick accent sounded even thicker when he spoke with the apple in his mouth and he headed for the door with his empty brief case. 

The moment he was gone, Abby, Patty, and Erin exchanged multiple looks of awkward eye contact and Gilbert bit her bottom lip feeling the red rise in her cheeks. She cleared her throat and looked down at the floor, attempting to act as though nothing had happened. Patty massaged her own temples, wishing this was all a bad dream and she hadn't just blurted out the one secret she ever wasn't able to keep. Then she returned to the chair behind her desk and began to fiddle with a pen. Abby, the only one who stood still, stared at the door, shocked at both Kevin and Jillian, but mostly shocked at herself for not noticing what was going on with Holtzy. She thought she knew her better than all of the others and to have been outsmarted by Kevin in a situation like this made her feel inferior for one of the first times in this group. 

Erin had sat down in her chair for about fifteen seconds before she quickly stood as if she had sat on a tack placed there by one of her very few students. "Okay!" She exclaimed, startling the other two. The grin on her face was one of hysteria and Abby noticed right away. "I'm gonna go home now." She picked up her purse and took three steps before Abby stopped her.

"Wait, Erin. What about Holtzy?"

"What about Holtzy?" Gilbert gulped.

"You should go find her." 

"I don't know, man. Maybe she just needs her space." Patty jumped in.

"OR," Abby tried to contradict, "...maybe she just needs some closure and you can talk some things out." 

Erin looked back and forth between the two with panic in her eyes. "Sometimes people just need some time alone to get they thoughts together." Tolan protested when Erin took one more step toward the door then stopped again.

"Look, I know I don't do the whole relationship thing too well-" Yates started.

"Right." Patty muttered from her desk, receiving a glare from the woman with glasses.

"...but if I were you...I'd go check on her."

"Or just talk to her tomorrow?" Tolan added in again. 

Abby shook her head at her friend and they both looked to Erin to see what she was going to do. At first, she did nothing...she just stood there, looking at the other two with tears in her eyes and she bit her bottom lip again. She quickly reran the events from today through her head and when she got to Kevin's remarks, she broke out into an unhinged laugh. Both her arms went up at her sides as if she were shrugging her shoulders. Her purse slid down her right arm and she let it fall to the floor. "I don't know what to do." She put a hand to her face, continuing to laugh while the sounds that escaped her throat were that of a few broken sobs. Patty and Abby looked to each other with pity for the scholar and they eventually began to walk toward her. 

"Hey, it's alright." Abigail put a hand on Erin's arm while she awkwardly gave it a pat.

"I'm a scientist. I've never done the whole, gently letting someone down thing. I don't know how I'm supposed to explain to her that-Ugh!" Gilbert closed her eyes with a sigh. "This is just-"

"I know. I know." Abby now rubbed her arm before eventually bringing her hand down to her own side and looking to Patty for help.

Tolan shook her head at first, but soon sighed and she gave in. "Go find her."

"Really?" The five foot, five brunette replied.

"And just tell her how you feel and that you still want to be friends and everything's all good. Tell her nothing's different." The tallest of the three gave her a small smile before resting her hand on Gilbert's back. 

"Yeah...Yeah." Holtzmann's crush nodded. "Yeah, we're still friends."

"Right. Right." Abby awkwardly smiled.

"And nothing HAS changed." Erin tried convincing herself when she bent over to pick up her purse.

"Exactly." Patty shrugged.

"Good." Yates patted her on the back as her highschool friend headed for the exit. 

"Alright. I'm going." Erin awkwardly turned around to look at them before opening the door. "I'm leaving." She repeated. "Okay. I'll let you know what, uh, what happens." She stepped out, but kept looking inside at them as if waiting for them to follow.

"Okay." Abby waved.

"Okay." She wasn't leaving. 

"Okay." Patty said with a bit of a forceful tone.

"Okay." Erin said once more. "Bye." She finally closed the door and turned to look at the cars drive by. She took a deep breath and wanted to begin her search when she realized she had no clue where the blonde would have gone. "Oh." She turned and went back inside.

"Uh, what are you doin'?" Patty wondered.

"I don't know where she could be. This city's huge!" 

"Well, she couldn't have gotten that far. She only left about five minutes ago." Abby pointed out.

"Really? This is Holtzmann we're talking about." Gilbert stated. 

"Oh. That's true." Abigail noted.

"Why don't you just call her?" Patty suggested.

"Oh, right. Right. Duh!" Abby silently chuckled at herself for not thinking of that. 

"Good idea. I-I don't have her number, though." The former professor responded.

"You don't have Holtzy's number?!" Abby asked with pure shock. "She was so proud of herself for getting that new phone she went around giving all of us her number like three times a day for a week."

"Yeah." Patty nodded, recalling that week.

"She used to call me just to prove she still had a new cell phone." Yates laughed.

"Oh. How-How long has she had it?" Erin wondered, feeling a bit left out.

"About a month. Right, Patty?" 

"Yeah, somethin' like that." Tolan answered.

"Oh. That's weird. She never...she never told ME about it." The woman in the gray skirt suit looked down at the floor. "I didn't even know she had a phone till this morning." 

"Oh," Abby said sadly, "...well, you can use my phone." She handed her best friend her mobile device. "She's in my contacts as 'Holtz Machine.'" Yates sounded proud of herself for thinking of that name for the inventor and she couldn't help but smirk. 

"Thanks." Erin barely whispered with an awkward grin as she took the phone. "I'm gonna...I'll, uh-" She pointed to the staircase, indicating she would go up and talk to Holtz privately. 

When she reached the top of the stairs, she turned around to look down at Patty and Abby, making sure they wouldn't eavesdrop and she went into Jillian's lab office. When she stepped into the room, she felt awkward as she wasn't used to this room of the building ever being so quiet and without Holtzmann around making new gadgets. She sighed, taking a seat in the stool across from Jillian's as if she were there and she slouched in a funk. She looked down at the cell in her hand and went to the contacts. Typing in 'H,' she wondered if her friend would even answer. She shrugged, ignoring her thoughts and pressed the call button, feeling her heartbeat grow faster.


	16. Vibrations

Erin held the phone to her ear. Her nerves were all over the place and she still wasn't sure exactly what she would say. She played with a piece of her hair, waiting for Holtzy to pick up. After she stopped playing with her hair, she tapped her finger nails on the desk in front of her, blowing air out of her mouth. Suddenly, she noticed something. Bringing the phone away from her ear, she rested both hands on the table, feeling a strange vibration. She stood up and walked around the counter to Holtzy's side and underneath one of the blonde's tools sat her cell phone. "Ugh!" Erin rolled her eyes at the situation and pressed the 'end' button on Abigail's phone, setting it down and picking up Holtzmann's. She took a deep breath before pressing the 'home' button and slightly smiling at the picture set as the dorky engineer's wallpaper. It was a photo she had taken of the vandalist's spray painted picture of their logo from that day in the subway. 

She saw the notification of a missed call on top of the woman's screen, but realized it said '2 missed calls.' She had no clue what urged her to do it, but she clicked on the notification and it took her to the 'Recent Calls' page on the device. She looked at the door to make sure no one was coming in before looking back at the phone and seeing that the second missed call was from Dr. Gorin. Or...she at least thought it was Dr. Gorin. She wasn't sure as the name in the phone was 'The Doc.' Biting her bottom lip, a bad habit she seemed to have developed when nervous, she bulked up the courage to press the call button. She began pacing behind Jill's counter as she waited for someone to answer. 

"Hello?" The voice on the other end sounded confused. 

"Hi, um...Dr. Gorin? Dr. Rebecca Gorin?" She slightly hit herself in the forehead for saying her name twice.

"Yes?" 

"Hello, this is, um, this is Dr. Erin Gilbert from the 'Ghostbusters.' I was wondering if you'd seen Jillian today? Again, I mean. AFTER the whole...possession incident?" 

"Have I seen Jillian again, today?" Rebecca repeated.

"Yeah."

It was a while before the next answer, as back at the Wilkinson's Foster Care Center, in Rebecca's office sat Holtzmann, shaking her head no to her mentor. "Uh, no. I haven't seen her again today." Gorin lied.

"Oh, uh...okay. Do you have any idea where I," She corrected herself, "...where WE could find her?"

"I'm sorry, no. Have you checked her apartment?" Holtzmann's eyes widened at her mentor and Rebecca shrugged.

"No. But that was my next guess." Erin also lied from the other end. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. And I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help." She shook her head while looking at the blonde across from her and both she and Gilbert hung up the phones. 

"Now they're gonna go to my apartment." Jill's hands rested over her yellow lenses.

"Oh." Gorin shrugged. "Well, it's not like they can get in."

"Abby knows how to pick locks." 

"Oh." The taller of the two put her cell phone down on her desk. "Well, at least you're not there."

Holtzy shrugged and she brought her knees up to her chest in the chair she sat in. "Thanks for letting me hang here. I just don't want to deal with their questions about my being an orphan today." Jillian lied about her situation and she hugged her knees, resting her chin on them. 

"Why did you bring us again?" Patty asked Erin when they reached Holtzmann's apartment door. 

"Because Abby knows how to pick a lock if Holtzy doesn't answer." 

"Yes, but I'd rather not be here as I'm pretty sure Holtzy REALLY doesn't wanna see me right now." Patricia gulped.

"It's fine. It's fine, you two need to have a talk as well." Erin stated before knocking on the door. 

"I'm leavin.'" Patty turned and headed for the elevator.

"Patty!" Gilbert yelled down the hall.

"It's okay. Just let her go." Abby knocked on the door as well.

"She's not here. Just do the thing." Erin held up her swiss army knife.

"Hold on. Hold on. Just give her a minute." They waited a few more seconds, and still no answer. "Maybe she's not even here." Yates suggested before receiving a small shrug from Gilbert. The brunette lifted her knife, offering it to her once more and Abby sighed, rolling her eyes and taking it. "You know, I only learned how to do this because the kids at my college used to lock me into the janitor's closet." She bent over and started to work on Jillian's locked door.

"You never told me that." The taller of the two said sadly.

"Well, you had your problems to deal with and we were starting to go our separate ways, so...it's not really a big deal." The door opened. 

"I think it is." 

"Well, it's not." They stood there, looking at each other for a moment before Abby turned to look into the apartment. "Are you gonna-?" She gestured toward it. 

"Oh, right." Erin slowly stepped in, calling out Holtzmann's name. There was no answer and they stepped in a bit further. "Holtz?" Still...nothing. 

"She's not here, Erin. Let's go." Abigail grabbed her friend's arm and Gilbert gently ripped it away.

"No. Wait." She whispered for some reason. 

"For what? She's clearly not here." The shorter of the two tried grabbing her arm again.

"Hold on!" Erin pulled away from Abby, this time with more force.

"Yeah, well...I'm trying to hold on, but you keep ripping your arm away." Yates thought it necessary to sound like a smart-alec. 

The former professor stepped further into the living room and she was suddenly distracted from whatever Abby was currently muttering from behind her when she noticed Holtzmann had a little work area in her family room. She walked over to it, almost forgetting her highschool friend was even in attendance as well. The moment she reached the table and hovered over it, she smiled looking down at all of the ideas Holtzmann had planned out. She had piles of papers with loads of notes and blueprints. Gilbert quickly read through some of the equations and she couldn't help but think to herself how brilliant Jillian was. 

While her gaze slid from left to right, she reached the end of the table, seeing three pagers on the corner of it. She didn't even hesitate to pick up one of them, still hearing Abby chattering around the room behind her. As she looked at the small device in her hand, she saw a neon colored post it note underneath the spot it was just in. The scholar set down the pager and picked up the petite slice of paper in her left hand, reading it quietly to herself. "'Ghost pagers.'" She set the paper back down on the desk and looked up at the wall above it. She repeated. "Ghost pagers?" Turning around, she saw Abby sliding her finger on one of Holtzy's shelves, collecting dust on her digit. "Abby." Erin began. 

"Wow. She really needs to clean up in here." Yates wiped the dust off her finger on the side of her pants before turning around to face Erin. "What?"

"Has Jillian-I mean, Holtzmann, ever mentioned ghost pagers to you?" 

"Ghost pagers?" Abby walked over closer to the desk. "No." She looked down at the unorganized area, seeing the little black beepers in the corner and picking up a different one from which Erin had just held a moment ago. With her free hand she set a finger down on the neon post it note, reading it. "That woman is a genius." 

Erin nodded with a proud smile from behind the shorter woman. "I know." 

"I mean, we could really use these, considering Kevin doesn't even know how to tell us when we've got messages." Abby smirked.

"Exactly." Erin picked up the other two and held one in each hand. "There's only three here. Which means Holtzy must have hers already." She looked to Abby, who nodded beside her. "Why do you think she hasn't told any of us about these?"

"She's a perfectionist when it comes to smaller things. Maybe she's just testing it out first." Yates set hers back down on the desk and turned away. "Come on. We should really get out of here."

Gilbert sadly pursed her lips and finally agreed, setting the beepers down herself. She sighed before heading toward the door behind Abby. The moment the shorter scientist's hand touched the doorknob to leave, a strange buzzing sound came from back inside the apartment. "Do you hear that?" Erin whispered.

They both turned around and the second Abby realized what it was, she practically pushed Dr. Gilbert out of the way to run back to Jillian's desk. When she reached the table again, she picked up all three vibrating pagers with excitement. "They work!" She ecstatically laughed. "They work! Aha!" She kept two of them and handed one to Erin when she ran passed her out the door, heading for the stairs to go back to the station and find out where the new client needed them.


	17. Ghost Girl

As Abby and Erin reached the lobby of Holtzmann's apartment building, they ran into Patty who was flirting with one of the building's tenants. Running by her, Abby grabbed the taller woman by the arm while handing her the extra ghost pager she took from Jillian's apartment. Sadly, Patty left before being able to receive the man's number but they both exchanged nice smiles before Erin and Abby had dragged Tolan away from him. "Yo, yo!" She yelled as they ran out of the building. "What is goin' on?" 

"We gotta go!" Abby answered.

"We were beeped!" Erin yelled in excitement, forgetting that Patty hadn't a clue what they were talking about. 

"You were what?!" She pulled her hand out of Abby's grip when they reached the Ecto-3.

"These beepers!" Abby began. "They tell us when we've got a call to go get a ghost. So come on!" Yates pointed toward the car and Erin opened the back door, putting one foot in.

"Well, what about Holtzy?" Patricia asked, causing Gilbert to stop in her tracks and look to the darker woman.

"We, uh...we don't know about her." Abigail responded with a hint of sorrow.

"She wasn't here." Erin added in, halfway inside the hearse.

They all sulked for a moment before remembering they had a ghost to go catch, whether Holtzy was there or not and they all got back into the car, heading to the station to find out more about their new client over the phone.

After getting their equipment ready and speaking to the panic-stricken couple on the phone, they learned the address and headed out. Abby was the last one to exit the building and as she did, Kevin stopped her on the way out, gently taking her by the arm to ask her a desperate question. "Hey, Abby?"

"Yeah, Kevin?" She looked up to him before looking back out at the car, knowing she needed to leave.

"Did you forget something?" He finally spoke. 

"What? I don't know what you're-" She looked down at his hand, holding her arm, and she noticed it was slightly shaking. "Are you okay, Kevin? Do you need to see a doctor after this morning?" She asked about his most recent possession. 

He ignored her question and eventually let go of her bicep. "You promised you'd take me with you this time to catch a ghost."

Abby looked down with a sigh. "Yes, but the last two times you've attempted to catch ghosts you've been possessed. Why don't you just stay here?"

He sighed with sadness and disappointment. "Alright, fine." He scratched his eye through his lens-less glasses. "It's just that...I don't want to sit behind a desk all day and I can't seem to get any good acting gigs and it seems like all I'm gonna be stuck doing is being a boring receptionist for the rest of my life. I'm never gonna become anything more if you don't let me try." He sadly looked down at the floor.

Abby's big heart broke a little more with every word that was spoken and she decided to give in. "Alright, fine. Let's go."

He smiled, looking back up at her again. "Really?"

"Yes, go grab your stuff. And hurry!" He turned and ran to his desk. Abby watched him in confusion, wondering why he wasn't heading for the stairs to the lockers. He jogged around his table, bending down as if to pick up something and then he stood up too fast, hitting his head on the bottom of his desk. When he expressed his pain, Abby shook her head at him and soon realized what he was doing back there in the first place. He had really gotten his hopes up for this moment. He had packed his own duffel bag with stuff he would need on their next mission and she felt even more sad for never letting him come in the past. "And remember our deal," she spoke trying to get her mind off of feeling horrible, "...you stick by my side. Got it?"

"Yes, Boss!" He practically ran over to the door with anticipation. 

"What's taking so long?" They heard Patty yelling from outside.

"Kevin's coming." Abigail held the door open, letting the towering man out first then following him into the Ecto-mobile. She ignored the sassy eyes she had partaken from both Patty and Erin in an attempt to tell her that this was a bad idea. She got in the car right away, as did Kevin, and Erin and Patty stared at each other for a moment before deciding to get in themselves when they noticed there would be no discussing it. 

The whole ride to Manhattan, all the women had thoughts about Holtzy and they wondered if they'd be able to fight a ghost without her, let alone with Kevin as her temporary replacement. Patty couldn't help but picture a million things that could go wrong, the first one on the list being another Kevin possession. Erin straight up thought about Holtzy and Abby's thoughts were all over the place. They even flashed to the moment Kevin grabbed her arm and she felt a strange tingling in her entire being. Unaware of what it even meant, she came up with many scientific possibilities as to why such a feeling arose in her body and eventually dropped the subject in her own head.

They finally arrived at their destination and ran inside the client's apartment building. On the phone they had told the Ghostbusters that they were in the middle of their engagement party when they swore they saw a ghost or something like it. Not wanting to risk having to wait for the elevator, the four of them decided to take the stairs right off the bat, heading up to the seventh floor. 

"Man, I wish I could live here." Patty exclaimed, noticing this was one of the fancy apartment buildings for the rich. 

They ran down the first hallway, but suddenly stopped when they saw another set of elevators at the end of it. The silver doors slowly opened to reveal their quirky colleague, equipment, yellow goggles and all. Jillian made eye contact with Patty and avoided looking at Erin at all. "Hey, Holtzy." Abby weakly smiled. "We didn't think you'd come."

"To catch a ghost?" The blonde acted stunned to hear they weren't expecting her. "I'd come everytime." She tried her best to show the others that her professional career came first over her personal issues and she finally stepped off the elevator with both hands on the straps of her pack. She looked up at Kevin and awkwardly smiled, shaking her head and wondering what would happen with the doofus there. 

"Alright, well...let's go." Abby gave her friend a pat on the back before turning down the hallway and heading to the, possibly haunted, engagement party.

Both Abby and Erin knocked on the apartment door at the same time. A man, just about Kevin's height, answered the door. "Oh, thank God you're here. Come inside. Hurry!" He panicked, grabbing Abby by the arm and pulling her inside. He had hair as dark as night and as groomed as any wealthy businessman. He wore a nice powder blue button down shirt, which was tucked into his soft gray dress pants. When they all walked into the apartment, the Ghostbusters couldn't help but look around the fancy penthouse in awe. 

The living room was nicely decorated and filled with about twenty to thirty guests for the party. Each of the visitors in attendance stared at the five strangers as they entered. "Alright! Where is this metaphysi-al appar...rition?" Kevin tried to sound smart and Abby couldn't help but smirk, looking away from him. 

"It's...it's in here." The man who answered the door responded with an overly-worried look on his face. He led the group over to a door, putting his hand on the handle. "In the bathroom." 

"What's it doing in there?" Yates wondered aloud.

"We locked it in there." He responded. Holtzmann and Patty gave each other suspicious looks before Jillian looked around at the people in the apartment staring at them. The man was about to open the door, but then he suddenly stopped, putting a finger up to his mouth as if to shush them. "Wait! Did you hear that?" He whispered putting his ear closer to the door. 

"No. What?" Erin asked, moving her ear closer to the door as well. 

"You don't hear that?" He asked.

"Shh. Shh." She listened harder and jumped after hearing a bump on the door, followed by some scratching.

"Oh!" Abby exclaimed when they all heard it. She looked to Patty and Jillian who had their proton packs ready. "Alright, get ready to open the door." Yates told the man they assumed was the owner of the apartment.

"Okay." The clean cut resident whispered with his hand on the doorknob. "Ready?" He asked when all five ghostbusters had their canons in hand. All of them nodded and he slowly turned the doorknob. He gently pulled the door open and Abby and Erin's heartbeats grew faster while they waited in anticipation to see the entity behind the door. 

The moment the door was open, all five ghostbusters jumped when they heard a high pitched tone one would recognize as a whine from a dog and they looked down, seeing a petite Japanese Chin puppy running out of the bathroom. After catching their breaths from small gasps, the four women and Kevin let out sighs of relief before looking up to the man, who still had his hand on the doorknob. He was pointing at them and laughing and soon, they realized every party goer was laughing as well. 

"You should've seen the looks on your faces." The wealthy man chuckled. 

"Oh, that's-" Erin began. "...very mature." 

"I can't believe you would do that to a dog." Patty said with a shake of her head.

"Nice." Abby nodded with a look of frustration. "Nice, pick on the people who saved New York City. Yeah, really funny." She turned around looking at the man's thirty friends and fake laughed with them. "Yeah. Haha! So funny. I'm rich and laughing at good citizens who would fight for our country because it's the only fun thing I can do in my boring life."

"You wouldn't fight for our country." The man by the bathroom exclaimed. "You're a joke. All of you. Especially you." He walked closer to Kevin, looking him in the eye and shaking his head in shame.

Patty, who stood right next to Kevin, tapped on the horrible man's shoulder. When he turned his head to look at her, she said, "You need Jesus!" 

"This isn't a joke, everyone. Despite what you may think!" Erin yelled out to the entire apartment. "We have a very serious job and-"

"Oh, Erin, shut up!" They all turned to look at a woman in the crowd who stepped forward, joining the man face to face with Kevin and Patty. She was blonde with immense amounts of makeup on and her hair seemed to have gone through many different chemical treatments to make it look perfect. 

"Bethany?" Gilbert fully turned her body to the woman. "How could you?"

Patty and Jillian soon recognized her as the bank teller who had apologized to Erin for being a bully in high school. "What?" The blonde laughed. "We were just having a little fun."

"But you...you saw-" 

"I never saw anything." Beth interrupted. "My crazy coworkers are the ones who claimed to have seen a ghost at the bank. I, however, am sane and knew that it wasn't possible."

"Bethany, I'm glad to see you've still got that monstrosity of a haircut!" Yates jumped in, stepping closer to her old classmate.

"Abigail, I'm glad to see you're still defending this psycho low-life." The woman slightly taller than Abby stepped even closer. "It's such a shame." She tilted her head to the side.

"What?" Yates wondered.

"You had such potential in high school." The blonde admitted.

"For what?" Abby asked.

"For being one of the popular girls with us. But...when you got to our school, you decided to believe crazy Ghost Girl instead." She laughed, looking over Abby's shoulder at the, now red-faced, Erin Gilbert.

"I'm glad I believed her. And you know, what? If I could go back to high school and do it over...I'd believe her again and again."

"And so would I." Holtzmann jumped in. "I mean, that were if I, uh...went to your high school." She awkwardly took a step to the side and made eye contact with one of the guests through her yellow lenses. She ignored the look of ridicule they gave her and bit the inside of her cheek. "And no, you know what...you may think that Erin's crazy but at least she has three real friends in her life." Kevin cleared his throat. "Four real friends." She rolled her eyes before correcting herself. "You think you're fancy with all your money and party guests. I guarantee you none of these people are your real friends and they're just here to keep up with their fancy agenda and they have nothing better to do in their boring, better privileged lives. You can drink your wine and eat your caviar while gossiping about each other behind your backs, but we'll continue our work with love and we'll always choose Erin's side because she is Erin. And she's special."

"Ha! Well, that part's true." Bethany interrupted.

Abby spoke again. "She's more special than you and at least she's decent enough to put someone else's feelings before her own. Unlike you and your so called friends here who just kick us when we're down because you're miserable in your own lives so you feel the need to make others miserable with you." 

"Well, tell you what..." Patty jumped in. "It won't work. We're all happy and we know what real love is." She looked at Bethany and the man with the blue shirt, who had at some point moved closer to the snooty blonde. "Congratulations on your engagement. We'll be going now." Patty stepped forward, taking Abby by the arm and pulling her back into the circle of Ghostbusters. They all left, feeling the eyes of thirty unhappy tycoons and housewives staring at them while they walked by.


	18. Quit

Every member of the Ghostbusters team left the apartment building silently. When they reached the Ecto-3, Erin finally spoke. "Thanks, guys for what you did back there. Sticking up for me? You didn't have to do that." 

"Yes, we did." Patty shook her head. "We've always got your back, girl."

"Thank you....very much. I appreciate that." She nodded, holding back tears. "Holtzmann, I'm glad you came."

"Quick question?" Abby spoke up. "How did you get here so fast and how did you know that this was the place?" 

Hesitant to speak, Jillian sighed. "I've been working on some new gadgets at home. I call them ghost pagers."

Abby and Erin looked at each other with large grins on their faces and Yates held up hers. "Yeah, we know. We found them when we..." Gilbert cleared her throat, reminding Abby that they illegally trespassed and broke into Holtz's apartment. "...when we found them." Abby's smile faded and she slowly brought the beeper back down to her side. Holtzy was not surprised at all, but she still closed her eyes as she'd hoped they wouldn't see the pagers until they were finished.

"Well, anyway...that still doesn't explain how you knew to come here." Erin tried to get Holtzmann to continue.

"Right. Well, yours are not as advanced as mine is." Jill took hers out of her pocket and held it up for display. "I've added more features to mine, including the ability to track the location of the client's phone when they call into the station, sending a signal to our pagers and typing in the address which shows up on the screen here." She pointed to the small screen. "I haven't perfected it yet, but that is why I have not told you about them nor have I continued this feature and added onto the other pagers themselves." Proud of herself, she did a small fist bump in the air before putting her pager back in her pocket. "Which is why I must ask to take all of yours back now please." She held her right hand out as if waiting for the other women to hand their pagers back to her...and they did. 

While Jillian put the other three beepers into the duffel bag on her shoulder, Abby looked up at Kevin. "I'm sorry we didn't get to catch a ghost today, Kev."

"Oh, that's alright. There's always next time." He smiled down at her and she sent him a fake grin before turning away from him to glare at Patty with an 'oh no' expression. 

"Well, we better get back to the station." Yates spoke, not wanting to open that can of worms at the moment. She opened the car door to the passenger seat and stepped in, followed by Kevin who got in the back seat behind her. Patty walked around the car, getting in the driver's seat and Erin turned to notice Holtzmann was no longer amongst them. 

She looked further down the street and saw the blonde hopping into a cab. "I'll see you guys later!" She yelled as she ran down the sidewalk, away from the hearse.

"Where you goin?'" Patty yelled to her.

Gilbert didn't answer, however, as she focused on catching the taxi Jillian had stepped into. She reached the yellow vehicle and opened the door, getting in. Holtzmann's eyes widened when she turned to see the brunette beside her. "Where to?" The cab driver asked.

Erin gave him the address to the former fire station and she turned to smile at Jillian. Though when she looked to her left, the eccentric inventor was getting out of the cab on the other side. "Wait, no. Holtzmann!" As Gilbert attempted to catch her friend getting out, the yellow door was slammed shut and she pressed her face to the window, calling for her coworker. "Holtz!" Before she was able to open the door, the cab driver pulled away and Erin looked out of the back window, watching Jillian call for another taxi. 

The Ecto-mobile pulled up to the garage of the old fire station and Erin's cab pulled up right behind it. She paid the driver and got out, accidentally slamming the back door shut with frustration. 

"Yo! Where'd you go?" Patty asked the brunette when she walked into the station after them. 

"Well...I was trying to catch Holtzmann, but she got out of the cab and the driver pulled away before she would even let me speak." Both Abby and Patty sighed before setting their equipment and jumpsuits back into their lockers upstairs. "Who knows where she went now." Erin sadly shook her head while she put her own stuff away as well.

To their surprise, they heard the door downstairs open and Abby and Patty walked over to the staircase, looking down to see Holtzy walk in. Erin watched them while she still stood by the lockers and she gulped, feeling her nerves going crazy. After looking down to the first floor, Abby turned to nod at Erin as if telling her it was Jillian and she was heading for the second floor. Patty backed away from the staircase and almost into Holtzmann's lab area as the blonde ascended the steps. Reaching the top floor, she pretended not to see Yates or Tolan and she walked her equipment right on over to her locker. 

Still standing inches from her own locker on the end, Erin watched the engineer while she threw her stuff in the maroon colored metal cabinet. The brunette opened her mouth several times to say something, but nothing ever came out and the heat that spread throughout her body almost caused her to scream in frustration. Holtz shut her locker door and headed back for the stairs. The moment she stepped down the first two, she instantly turned back around, going back up and into her lab to grab her cell phone, which she had remembered she'd left there earlier. 

Patty, Abby, and Erin watched her do so and the tallest of the three looked back and forth between her two colleagues. Abby and Erin were confused at Patty's tension until they soon realized what she was thinking. Tolan took a very deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before clenching her fists and walking into Holtzmann's lab after her. Erin finally walked closer to Abby who had turned to see what was going on and joined her in watching what was about to go down. 

While Jillian was in the room, she had decided to check on the Ecto Containment Unit before leaving as well as a couple more of her inventions for good measure before deciding to leave again. During her quick examinations, Patricia ineptly stood in the center of the room, deciding on what she would say. The best she could come up with was, "Holtzy?" Though she spoke, her words did not stop the blonde. Patty was a bit hurt at being ignored, though she understood it was necessary and well-deserved. She continued. "I know what I did was wrong and it hurt you. And I'm sorry. I just want you to know that." Still, Jillian continued to pay more attention to her technological advances. "I'd understand if you never did forgive me, but I'm just wondering...would you ever consider accepting my apology?" She waited for an answer, but still nothing. "That's cool." The darker woman turned to leave, but halted at the door and turned back to face Holtzmann, who had finally stopped moving around. "You know what? I get that you don't wanna talk to ME...but there's no need for you to ignore Erin, man. She's done nothing wrong in this whole situation." 

"I'm not ignoring her." The wacky woman almost whispered, but her friend still heard.

"Well, it sure seems like you are. And it ain't right."

Suddenly, Jillian slammed the metal box meant to temporarily hold caught ghosts down on the desk beside her. "How could you, Patty?" She tore her goggles off her head, gripping them tightly in her right hand. 

"I know." The former MTA employee muttered. "But I gave you a chance to say something and I told you it would slip out eventually. All I was doing was trying to help. And I'm sorry for hating to see you like this." Outside the door, Abby and Erin quickly glanced at each other before turning their gaze back to the arguing pair. Yates made a small note of the redness she saw in her best friend's cheeks.

"Like what?" Holtzy wondered.

"Like someone different." Patty admitted and Holtzmann's mood changed from that of anger, to disappointed agreement. The blonde didn't say a word. She hadn't a clue what to do. She just stood and stared at Tolan for a moment before her gaze moved passed her tall friend and to the brunette a few feet behind Patty. Erin swallowed hard when the blonde looked at her and she bit her lower lip, as usual. After about fifteen seconds, Holtzmann's blue eyes moved to the other woman behind Patty and she felt embarrassed in front of Abby. The woman with glasses looked to Erin beside her when she noticed Holtzy looking at herself. 

Once Abby looked to her best friend, Jillian looked down at the floor in front of her with a sigh. She pursed her lips before putting her hands in the large pockets of her overalls and tilting her head to the side while she still stared at the floor. In the silence, she swore she could hear some movement coming from the Ecto Containment Unit. Taking in a deep breath, she decided to speak, though it was soft and she barely muttered clearly enough to understand her. "Erin...I am...sorry...for ignoring you." Her eyes flicked around the room, but never up to the other women present. "I didn't realize I was...and I hope it did not change your views on me as a person." 

"That's okay." Gilbert opened her mouth to add her own thoughts on the situation, but was interrupted when Jillian continued.

"Abby, I hope I have not made you uncomfortable in anyway and I really hope we can still be friends." Still, she never looked up and she spoke abnormally fast. It was almost a reenactment of her 'meaning of life' speech in the diner the week after they saved NYC from Rowan. "Especially because we have a really cool handshake and you are the reason I have any friends in the first place." 

Yates began to respond. "Of course we're still-" 

"And Patty...I am still very mad at you. But you are still very important to me and I don't know how long I hold one of these grudges things, but hopefully it isn't too long or I will just have to quit." The blonde kicked her right combat boot at the floor she stared down at and she felt her hands sweating in her pockets. She refused to look up at any of them.

"What?"Patty and the others took a couple steps forward as they protested.

"No." Erin said.

"You can't quit!" Abby added.

"We need you, Holtzy." Patty spoke up. 

"And you know what you all did for me at Bethany's today? We would all do the same for you. Right, guys?" Erin looked to Patty and Abby.

"Absolutely!" Abigail agreed. 

Patricia nodded. "Everytime!" 

Holtz replied. "Thanks, guys, but I-"

"No!" Gilbert interrupted, a bit aggressively. "You shouldn't quit just because we all know the truth." She paused, looking down at her own feet. "If anything, I'll quit."

"No, I should." Tolan began. "I'm the one who messed things up."

"No, guys. Stop!" Abby almost yelled, stepping in front of Patty, making herself the new center of the room. "NO ONE is quitting alright? I know we've only been together a couple months, but we're all family and we're sticking together. Period. Okay?" She constantly looked back and forth between all three of her closest and only friends. "Don't let what we've built fall apart." Her voice cracked as she spoke. "Now, Patty...you and I are gonna go downstairs to try and convince Kevin that he doesn't need to catch ghosts with us. Meanwhile...Erin you stay up here and you and Holtz are gonna have a talk."

Both Erin and Jill tried to object at the same time. 

"But-" Came from the blonde.

"I don't-" Erin shook her head.

"No." Abby scolded. "You're talking." She looked at Holtzmann, then back to Erin, then to Tolan. "Patty, let's go." She began to exit the room, walking by the tallest of the four and hinting at the woman to follow her. 

Patricia sighed, getting one last look at Holtzy before turning around to leave. "I really am sorry." As she left, she passed Erin who sent her a weak smile before feeling all the blood rushing to her head. She knew she still had no clue what she would say to the short, quirky scientist, but she decided she'd obey Abby and think of something.


	19. Silence

At first, it was awkwardly silent between the two ghostbusters as they stood at opposite sides of the room. Erin looked at Holtzmann for a few seconds as the blonde continued to stare at the floor with her hands stuffed in her denim pockets. After a while, Erin looked away and her gaze moved around the room while she nervously folded her hands in front of her, fiddling with her own fingers. Eventually, she looked back to Holtz before turning and heading to sit on one of the stools at Jillian's desk. 

Biting her bottom lip, Gilbert picked up one of the wrenches on the table in front of her and began to play with it. The silence was growing agonizingly painful and she started to hum to a familiar tune. The song had been playing in the cab and now she had it stuck in her head. She tapped the wrench on the table to the beat of the song in her head and eventually, her humming turned into her softly singing the words. "Maybe you're just like my mother. She's never satisfied." She started to get a little louder, a smile growing on her face as she hoped Holtzy would enjoy this song as much as she did. When she continued, she looked to the blonde to see if she would even slightly begin to show interest. "Why do we scream at each other? This is what it sounds like...when doves cry!" The tune of the song (in her head) took over the brunette's body and she stood from the stool, dancing around as if she were actually listening to the song by 'Prince.' 

It wasn't long before Jillian finally looked up to the dancing scientist and she couldn't help but fight a small grin. Her head began to bop along as Erin started mumbling some of the lyrics again and one of Holtzmann's hands was removed from her pocket and it reached up to pull her yellow glasses over her eyes. She was still too uncomfortable and nervous to dance enthusiastically, but it was enough to relax her just a bit so she could scooch on over to her spot behind the table. She picked up the wrench Erin was recently holding and one of her small hammers, hitting them against the wood like a pair of drumsticks. 

When Gilbert turned to see her loosening up a bit, she found herself dancing a bit more aggressively with excitement. Her mind was blank for that brief couple of minutes, but all of a sudden...it hit her like a ton of bricks. The events from today flashed back into her abundant mind. Erin's dancing subsided and she held back tears, finally feeling the aftermath of what happened in Bethany's apartment today. She had felt that horrible torment of being a ghost girl once again. A part of her wanted to just let it all out and cry, but the other part of her knew that now was not the time with what was going on with Holtzy. It wasn't until she stopped singing and dancing herself that she fully noticed Holtzmann had taken up the vocals as well. She watched her sing and dance for about half a minute as she forced herself to keep her smile. 

Jillian ended the small dance session with a few shoulder shimmies and a final slam of the wrench and hammer down on the table. She looked over to Erin and her mood calmed down again. She pushed the glasses back up onto her head before leaning her left hand against the table beside her. The both of them stood in silence again, waiting for the other to speak first. 

Downstairs, Abby and Patty slowly walked over to Kevin who was putting his stuff back in his duffel bag. The moment they saw him repacking for their next ghost, both women stopped and looked at each other in pity for the poor guy. "Hey, uh...Kevin?" Abby began when they approached him at his desk.

"What is it?" He turned, about to stand up but he whacked his head on his desk for the second time that day and both Patty and Abby grimaced as if it were their own heads. 

Tolan couldn't help but think that was possibly why he wasn't too smart. He probably just hit his head too much. "Can we talk to you for a second?"

He stood up straight, rubbing his head as he answered. "Well, you already are." He said with a hint of confusion.

Patty snapped her head to Abby as if saying 'is he for real?' but she forced her mouth shut when Yates opened her own mouth to talk. "We were hoping that you could, uh...not come with us on our next hunt." 

"But...we made a deal. And today, there was no ghost so it shouldn't count." Beckman responded.

"True. True. But we kinda need you here at the station." Abigail ground her teeth after she spoke.

"Yeah, Kev." Tolan jumped in. "You're our only receptionist right now, and until we get more employees, we're gonna need you here to answer the phone in case we get anymore calls and whatnot." 

"Right." Abby nodded, looking to Patty who then nodded after her. They both looked back to the muscular man and waited for a response. 

"Oh." He looked down, causing the other two to fear for another sad reply, but instead..."Okay." He looked up with a smile. "That's fine."

Both females let out a loud sigh of relief and Abby laughed. "Phew!" She pretended to wipe sweat from her forehead. "Good." She looked to Patty once again who was smiling.

"Yeah. I can wait." The dull hunk added, causing the other two to frown immediately.

"What? No." Abby spoke.

"Yeah. That's alright. We'll just find some more people to work for us and then I can join." He winked at them. "Got it!" As if they had a new deal, he nonchalantly, with a large grin on his face, turned back around to continue organizing his personal equipment into his bag on the floor beside the desk.

"Uh..." Abby started to speak, but stopped when Patty touched her arm and shook her head no. They both sighed and headed to their own desks.

"So, uh..." Erin began, finally breaking the silence that had engulfed the entire upstairs lab. "The Ghost Pagers is a brilliant idea." In her own head, she smacked herself for bringing that up. But at least it was something, right?

"Thanks." A smug smile grew on Holtzmann's unmodest face. 

"Uh, huh." Gilbert nodded and looked down at her finger nails while she played with them. She sighed, wishing she could figure out what to say. "Where did you go earlier?" Really? That was what you asked her? She legitimately put her face in her hands, not expecting Jillian to answer...but she did.

"I was with Dr. Gorin." The blonde had no clue why she confessed right away. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she was a bad liar or the fact that she couldn't think of anything else to talk about so she might as well just tell the truth.

"I called her. She said she wasn't with you." Gilbert slightly tilted her head to the side and her brows furrowed in confusion.

"That's because I told her to say that." Again, Jill had no clue why she was speaking the truth all of a sudden.

"Oh." Erin nodded, feeling like a bit of an idiot. She should've guessed that. 

Silence.

The blonde cleared her throat. "I did not, however, tell her to send you to my apartment." She did that thing where she spoke without barely opening her mouth. Her right hand found its way to her hip and she slouched even more.

The brunette nodded again and she looked around the room, debating on whether or not she was going to say it. At some point, her arms had crossed in front of her own chest and she looked at her wacky coworker. She opened her mouth, but just before she spoke, she internally panicked. She closed her mouth to take in a deep breath before braving another attempt. "What did SHE say about..." Her eyes flickered to her right before looking back to Holtzy, "...you know?" 

"What?" Jillian acted as though she hadn't a clue what they were talking about now. But soon, she knew she was caught in her fake act when she saw the look on Erin's face. She changed her posture before speaking again, but she avoided looking at the former teacher as she did so. "I didn't tell her about the situation." She hit her left hand against the table a few times.

"You didn't?" Former Ghost Girl let her arms fall down to her sides. "Wh-why not?"

Holtz shrugged before answering in one of her strange, playful voices. "I don't know." She did a random 360 turn before continuing in a serious tone. "I don't need EVERYONE to know I fell in love. Especially Rebecca, because she has a weird thing when it comes to relation-"

"Wait!" Erin's half smile completely vanished to a look of bafflement and sudden concern. "You..." Her heart was beating faster than she'd ever felt before. "You fell in love," a small pause, "...with me?" 

The silence in the room was worse than it had ever been before.


	20. Bubble

A bubble. Each one in their own. Though they both could hear everything going on around them, the sounds were muffled as if they were in a sealed off plastic vessel. Downstairs, obscure voices talked but were unclear to both women in the upstairs lab as everything seemed to be a blur. The noises from outside were that of a busy New York City and they could make out the commotions of fast driving cars and car-horns beeping. Every sonance fused together into a sort of prelude and song. It was almost as if the world had become a concert that the two were unable to interrupt with their own voices. 

Even though both scientists were thinking different thoughts, they could tell the other one was in a panic in her own mind. Erin felt her heart banging against the inside of her chest and Jillian swore she could actually hear the loud beating of the drum that was her own heart itself. The pain in the blonde's chest soon took metamorphosis and turned from ache into warmth and an odd sense of comfort. She hadn't a clue why as she knew what was about to happen was going to hurt like heck.

Gilbert almost felt dizzy, never having heard nor imagined someone falling in love with her. Soon, the symphonies of the street and the actions from downstairs became nothing but loud buzzing in the brunette's mind. She tried her best to swallow, but the sudden lump in her throat prevented it and she tried again. But still failed. She soon found it harder to breathe and was unaware of what to think. This was Holtzmann. What was she supposed to say? It was only a few minutes ago that the off-the-wall inventor had threatened to quit. Erin didn't want that. She was rather fond of the freaky little weirdo. But how would she react to being let down while in love? Erin thought it was just a crush. She had no idea Jillian had actually fallen for her. 

The former scholar remembered when she once thought she was in love with a boy in high school. It was the worst pain she had ever experienced, aside from being the awkward ghost girl she was. The only problem was...this was one of the popular guys and he had never actually spoken to her before. So, why had she fallen in love with him? She didn't even know him? How was it that that was so hard and excruciating for her 16 year old self when they hadn't even spent one minute together? She had felt so rejected by his will to ignore her existence, she could not even imagine how Jillian felt. They actually knew each other. They had talked, they had danced together, they worked together, and they knew each other pretty well. It would make total sense for Jillian to fall for Erin. 

Now Gilbert was the one with the massive pang in her chest and she hated having to do this. Her hand reached up to hold her heart for a second as if she were forcing the pain to disappear. It did not work. "Holtz." She barely whispered and cleared her throat before trying again. "Holtz, you're one of my best friends." Erin felt herself about to cry, but she demanded her tears stay where they were. She opened her mouth to speak again, but she had absolutely no idea what to say in order to let her down gently. Soon, her mouth quickly closed as she had a feeling she'd be sick and finally, Holtzy spoke.

"Say no more." She tried to use one of her laughable voices to make Erin believe she were fine. "I get the picture." Holtzmann internally slapped herself for saying anything in the first place. She knew she should've just kept everything bottled up until she could force herself to fall OUT of love with the pretty brunette. But it was too late now and she beat herself up for going so far as to telling Erin how much she liked her....Scratch that! LOVED her. 

Erin nodded, wanting to say something else, but nothing came to mind. "I, um...I'm not gonna-" She stopped herself, wondering if she should even bring this up.

"What?" Holtz wondered, feeling sick herself.

The former professor shook her head, telling herself she wasn't going to finish her sentence, but for some reason...she did anyway. "I'm not gonna flirt with Kevin anymore." Immediately after speaking, Gilbert let out an annoyed breath of air and she let her head drop with her eyes closed, angry with herself for even talking.

"No, I understand why you would." Jillian DID know that the man was highly attractive and she didn't want Erin changing anything just because of her.

"No. I, uh...I don't think he's interested anyway." The brunette's eyes widened at herself and she was wondering why she hadn't shut up yet.

"Well, um..." Holtzmann didn't want to hurt the woman, but she thought it was about time she knew. "...don't tell Abby, but Patty thinks he's been trying to get HER attention."

"Whose? Patty's?" Jill shook her head with a cute grin and Erin's face lit up with joy as she whispered. "Abby's?" 

"Mhm." Jillian nodded.

Gilbert gasped with an ear to ear smile. "I don't know why I didn't notice it before." She looked down at the table, remembering all the things Kevin had done and she realized he always seemed as though he were trying to impress Abigail. "That makes sense." She nodded before looking back up at Jill who was now leaning both hands against the desk in between them. Suddenly forgetting about her own crush on Kevin, Erin wanted to squeal with excitement for her best friend, but she didn't as she knew it'd be inappropriate in a time like this. "Oh my gosh! I'm so happy for her." She looked away, picturing the two together and secretly hoping Yates would notice soon. "And you know, she's the only one out of all of us who knows how to handle him." She giggled and her words caused Holtzmann to begin laughing as well.

"I know." Jill nodded with a look of amusement.

They both laughed for a couple seconds before remembering their main conversation and letting their smiles slowly fade. Erin sighed and tapped her fingers on the table between them. She tilted her head to the side as she looked at Holtzmann's Nutcracker. She licked her lips before hesitantly reaching over and pushing the button, watching the machine contract, crushing nothing but air. She slightly chuckled and looked back to Holtz who just stared at the Nutcracker herself. It wasn't long before they both stepped back into their own bubbles and everything returned to being muffled and inaudible. All they could hear was the sounds of the other one breathing and Jillian could swear she was about to collapse, but she fought it. 

Erin found herself in a daze as she thought about the dream she had and she felt butterflies when she remembered Holtzmann in that gorgeous blue evening gown. She pictured her long, wavy blonde hair and wished she could see it right now. She felt a wrenching in her gut when she remembered how upset her dream-Jillian was when she was defending Kevin. Soon, a small headache came on and she forced herself out of her thoughts. "Well, I'm, uh...I'm gonna go down and get some work done...or, something." She began to blink excessively and she hadn't a clue why. When Holtzmann didn't respond, she began to walk away, but stopped to ask, "We're good, right?" 

"Yeah. Yeah. We're fine." Jillian waved a hand in front of her face. 

"Good. Good." Erin smiled and she left, in her own bubble.

After the brunette was finally gone, Jillian wanted nothing more than to just sit and cry, but instead, she picked up her ghost pager and some tools and began to work, ignoring her stomach ache and stepping back into her own bubble as well. Though this time, she couldn't hear anything anymore and she pushed her glasses back over her eyes. They were her security blanket and the reason she knew she hadn't gone completely insane yet.


	21. Subconscious

Time passed and everything had eventually returned to normal. The Conductors of the Metaphysical Examination had caught many ghosts in the last few months and they had even lined up a few interviews for more recruits to their ghost busting team. Patty was now dating some man she had met, ironically, on a subway train to work. Abby and Kevin were beginning to flirt some more and soon, the others knew it would turn into an actual relationship. Jillian had invented as many new inventions as Thomas Edison or Nicola Tesla could within a whole year. Every new gadget she constructed became more and more useful with every hunt of a new ghost. Erin had stayed completely the same. Alone...waiting. Hoping for someone to come into her life. Her online dating profiles had close to no interests and the few men that HAD been interested were turned down by the picky brunette. She found them okay looking and two were actually as attractive as Kevin, but they weren't for her. 

She would sit down at her computer desk, staring at their profile pictures and reading their bios with a sad expression on her face. What was the deal? She would ask herself. She hadn't a clue. She could have given them a chance if she wanted to. But why had she continued to torture herself? She would stand up from her chair, pace around her bedroom, then quickly press the 'deny' button. She just wasn't feeling it anymore. She wanted to meet someone naturally, like Patty or Abby had. 

One day, she and Abby had their night shift at the station. They had finally added in some beds to the extra room upstairs. When they awoke the next morning, they were completely shocked when both Patty and Kevin had made it to work before the quirky blonde. Growing concerned, they all took turns attempting to call her. They even called Dr. Gorin a few times, who swore she hadn't seen nor heard from her. 

Everything was going great...and in a flash, it was all taken with one ring of the phone. 

"Hello. Ghostbusters, we answer the call. How can we help you?" Kevin spoke into the speaker. Halfway through the speech on the other end, Kevin looked to Abby as if asking for help and she stood from her desk, recognizing that look. The expression on her face was one of both confusion and worry as she approached her future-boyfriend's desk, taking the phone from him when he offered it. 

"Hello? This is Dr. Abigail Yates." She listened to the person through the telephone and slowly turned to look at Patty and Erin by their own desks. Without even saying a word, Yates hung up the phone and froze in her place. 

"What?" Tolan asked.

"What is it, Abby?" Erin wondered. 

"It's Holtzy." The woman's voice cracked before she tried to continue. "She's in the hospital." 

"She what?" Erin walked around her desk and Patty stood from her chair.

"She's in a coma." Kevin watched Abby tell them with sorrow, as he already knew from the beginning of the phone call. 

"What?" Gilbert suddenly felt faint. She rested her left hand on the desk beside her.

"What the hell happened?" Tolan now walked around her desk as well.

"She was hit by a car this morning." A single tear fell passed the lower brim of Abby's glasses and she quickly reached up to wipe it away.

Patty stood with her jaw locked open and Erin suddenly morphed into a statue. Yates turned her body slightly so she could look down at Kevin. The man reached a hand up to hold hers and after she took it, her head dropped in fear and sadness. 

"What-what hospital?" Tolan grabbed her denim jacket from the chair behind her desk.

"The one on East 76th." The paranormal researcher responded, her hand still holding Kevin's.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm goin.'" Patty did not hesitate one moment to head toward the door.

After seeing the look on Abby's face, Kevin spoke, "I'll stay here. You go."

She sent him a weak smile and headed for the exit as well. When Patty opened the door, Yates turned around to look at her best friend. "Erin, are you comin?'"

Still stiff as a board, Gilbert blinked and looked up to Abigail. "Uh...yeah. I'll, uh..."

"What?" The shortest of the group asked. "You'll what?" 

A nervous laugh came from the former teacher and she smiled at both Patty and Abby. "I'll, uh..." Before she could even speak, the world spun, gravity getting the best of the woman, and she fainted, collapsing to the ground.

When Dr. Gilbert came to, she panicked with a roaring gasp. Finding it hard to catch her breath at first, she struggled to look at her surroundings. The moment she realized where she was, she slouched in pure frustration. A nightmare! It was only a ridiculous nightmare! Erin was getting sick of her subconscious. She had had so many screwed up dreams in the past few weeks, but this one was by far the worst. 

It took her a few moments, but soon she realized that it had only been one night since she found out Holtzy was in love with her. She let out a sigh of relief for it was just a dream and Holtzmann was probably in her own apartment somewhere, completely fine. The woman's hand reached up to push her bangs off of her forehead for a second before she slapped her tired hand to her own thigh. She removed the blanket from her lap and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Looking down at the floor, she sighed, wondering what was going on with her. 

Her mind went through every dream she'd had since becoming a part of the Ghostbusters and she closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. She immediately regretted closing her eyes, however, when she pictured the blonde in her evening gown once again. After remembering the dream, her brain flashed to the memory of her standing in the doorway of Jillian's apartment when part of her hair had been out of place. 

Grey-blue eyes opened with uncertainty and trepidation. After a few seconds of having no thoughts at all, she soon began to recall the night before. Jillian was in love with her? Kevin had a thing for Abby? This was all too much. She wanted to express her excitement for Abby but couldn't, knowing it'd be super embarrassing if Patty were wrong and Kevin really had no interest in anyone. She wanted nothing more than to just grab Jill and give her a huge hug to make her feel better, but a part of her suspected it'd make things worse. Plus, Holtzmann didn't like hugs, as Dr. Gorin had stated about the both of them the other day. 

Erin didn't know anymore. She really didn't. She hated feeling bad for Holtzy and the past two days, she found herself feeling more depressed than ever before. Perhaps it was finding out and accepting the truth that she and Kevin would never happen...or perhaps it was the pressure of having to break her dear friend's heart. She hadn't a clue. Again, all she could think about was wanting to hold Holtzmann. She closed her eyes and pictured holding the blonde, a small grin growing on her face.

She reopened her eyes and sighed once more before clearing her throat and feeling sudden butterflies in her gut. She lost her breath and slightly lifted her head to look at the wall across from her. It wasn't until now that she realized her fingers were squeezing the sheet at her sides below her. Her body temperature rose and a slight case of nausea hit her as she began to long for the day she could actually hug Jillian, but she suspected it would never happen. 

Shaking her head no with a sense of feeling pathetic, she began to laugh at herself. She slightly rocked back and forth for a moment before bringing her feet up onto the bed and sitting Indian style. She put her face in her hands, remembering Holtzmann's smile and missing it. "What have I done?" She whispered to herself, feeling responsible for the disappearance of Holtzy's happiness. The soft, gentle butterflies in her abdomen quickly turned to a brief, harsh pain and when it was gone, she brought her hands down and looked up to the wall again. She hadn't expected the tears to fall, but they did and she slammed her head back down on her pillow and cried herself back to sleep.


	22. Sick

The next day, Jillian had finished her morning routine of getting ready while dancing along to some of her favorite 'Blondie' songs. She went into work with confidence as she knew she was so close to finishing the Ghost Pagers. She had finally been able to concentrate harder on her work the past couple of days and she suspected it was because she was trying to get her mind off of Erin. The two hadn't spoken since the day of their many disasters, but she didn't mind as she was gradually rotating out of her depressed state. She was turning back into her old self again and she couldn't have been happier.

"Erin called in sick today." Abigail spoke when Patty stepped into the station for the first time that morning.

"She okay?" Tolan wondered as she shut the door behind her. 

"I think so. It was probably just the food we ate last night. It was pretty greasy." Yates responded as she logged into her computer. 

Jillian sat on the third step of the staircase as if she were in the beginning of a popular rap video with her elbows resting on her knees and her knees widely spread while she leaned far forward. Her eyes looked up to both her coworkers. "Erin didn't eat last night." She recalled the brunette claiming to be too busy to leave her desk the whole day before.

"Oh. That's right." Abby looked down at the floor beneath her desk in remembrance. 

"Maybe that's why she don't feel good." Patty jumped in, putting her purple cardigan on the back of her chair before sitting in it. 

"Should I call her back?" The worried paranormal researcher wondered.

"No, I'm sure she's fine." Holtzmann slightly waved one of her hands before leaning back on the step above and crossing her legs out in front of her.

"I'm gonna call her back." Abby reached for the phone on the corner of her own desk. She picked it up, putting it up to her ear and she heard a dial tone. She set the phone back down and mentally slapped herself. She stood up and walked over to Kevin's desk for the second time that morning. "I forgot our new phones aren't connected yet." She nervously chuckled at herself and picked up the only working phone. Just as she did, Kevin arrived, stepping into the station with his umbrella. While Abby listened to the phone ring on the other end, she couldn't help but send Kevin a strange look.

"Kevin." Patty spoke. "Why you got an umbrella?" She shook her head. "It ain't rainin.'"

"On my way to the subway this morning, some nice old man offered it to me, so I took it." He smiled.

"What old man?" Tolan asked.

"The one on the corner. He said that if I gave him everything in my wallet then I could have this nice umbrella." He grinned at the clearly old black parasol in his hand. 

Patty looked to Holtzy on the staircase and Jill just sat with a beaming smile as she internally laughed at the idiot. Shaking her head, Patty looked back to Beckman. She opened her mouth to say something, but quickly changed her mind and sat down.

Kevin's phone was returned to the receiver and Abby leaned against the table. "She didn't answer."

"She probably went back to bed." Jill let out an odd laugh. "I know I would." 

"I should go check on her." Yates suddenly grew concerned.

"Why?" Patty wondered. "I'm sure she alright. She's a grown woman."

"I know. But I just....I got a weird feeling." Abby pushed her glasses up more.

"What kind of feeling?" Holtzmann asked from the stairs, behind Yates.

"I don't know. Just a feeling." She walked over to her desk and grabbed her purse. "I'm gonna go check on her and maybe bring her some breakfast. I'll be back later."

Jillian finally stood and her expression turned serious. Patty and Kevin watched Abby head for the door as they realized she wasn't kidding. "Well, call us." Tolan spoke as she opened the door.

"Okay." 

The moment Abby was gone, Patty turned to look at Holtzmann standing toward the bottom of the staircase and the blonde uncomfortably looked down before turning and running up the stairs into her office.

Erin sat on her couch in her apartment, watching the annoying and very inaccurate television show, Ghost Jumpers. She spent her time yelling at the TV before she finally grew sick of it and turned it off. She sighed, picking up her laptop and opening it to go on YouTube. She didn't know what prompted her to do so, but she was just curious to see if people were still posting horrible things on all their videos. It wasn't too long before she saw that nothing had changed, even after they had saved all of New York City. Some comments were very nice and encouraging, but there were mostly negative comments. Finally, after reading some of the most terrible things she had ever experienced from the minds of these so-called human beings, she closed her laptop and set it back down on the sofa beside her. 

She took in a deep breath before aggressively blowing out all the air and laying her head down on her couch pillow. She turned over so she was on her back and stared up at the ceiling. Her thoughts were all over the place. She thought about her past as 'Ghost Girl' and what happened at Bethany's two days ago. She remembered meeting Abby for the first time and she recalled the feeling of great joy when the new girl had believed she saw a ghost. She thought of her multiple therapists and wished they could see her now and her work. She wondered what her parents were doing at this very moment and teared up when she remembered how proud of her they were when she got the job at Columbia University. She still hadn't told them she was fired before she got tenure , but also....they had no clue what her new job was all about and she knew they'd disapprove. She could just picture their faces when they found out that she hadn't found a husband yet as well.

Lying there, staring up at the white ceiling, she noticed a small spider making its way to the center of the ceiling to her overhead light. She watched it crawl, envying the creepy thing for it had a much easier life than her own. She brought her right hand over her eyes and sighed when she heard the buzzing of her apartment bell from downstairs. Confused as to who it could be, she lagged to get up and walk over to push the intercom, asking who it was. "Hello?" 

"Erin, let me up. It's Abby." 

"Abby? What are you doing here?" 

"I brought you breakfast. Now let me in or I'll find my own way like last time." 

Gilbert thought for a moment, wondering how Abby had gotten into the building that night in the first place. Yes, she had picked the locks to her apartment, but how had she even found her way into the building? Rolling her eyes, Erin spoke again. "No. I'm very sick. I don't want to infect you."

"Really? Cause you sound fine to me." Abby argued from outside.

"Um..." Erin faked a cough and tried making her voice sound hoarse. "No, really. It's a pretty bad cold. Very contagious."

"Awwww..." Abby dramatically pretended to be sad. "I'm so sor-No! On the phone you told me it was your stomach. Nice try."

Scoffing, Gilbert decided to give in and she spoke again in her normal voice. "Fine." She pushed the unlock button and Abby entered the building, heading up to her best friend's floor.

While she waited, Erin looked around her apartment living room. She walked over to her sofa and moved her computer to the coffee table so there was more room for them both to sit on it. After sitting down for a second, she looked up, remembering the harmless spider and knowing if Abigail saw it, she wouldn't stay. A smile spread across the brunette's face and she was happy to point it out to the woman, but soon, she slouched...actually wanting someone to talk to. She had felt so lonely for so long and it had been years since she and Yates had had a good heart to heart. How do I get Abby to not notice the spider? She thought hard for a moment, then it hit her. 

She quickly stood and went over to her door, unlocking it before going back to her bedroom. When Abby knocked on the door finally, Erin yelled to her as loud as she could. "Come in! It's unlocked!" She listened for the door to open.

"Hey!" Abigail shouted when she entered.

"I'm in the bedroom." Gilbert wasn't much of a yeller.

"What?" Yates could barely hear her.

"I'm in the bedroom!" She tried a bit louder this time. Soon, Erin was joined in her room by the other scientist with a bag of Dunkin Donuts. The taller of the two couldn't help but smile when she entered, knowing she must've brought her her favorite bagel, egg, and cheese sandwich with hash browns. "Why did you bring me breakfast?" She wondered, sitting down on the side of her bed as Abby moved closer.

"I thought maybe you might be hungry." Yates sat down on the bed as well and handed the bag over.

"Well, uh...thank you." Erin gladly took it, mentally hating it when people tried to treat her, but pretending she didn't mind. In high school, anytime Abby would buy her a snack or give her a Christmas or birthday present, a fight would ensue between the two because Erin would yell at her friend for spending money on her and Abigail would tell her to just shut up and accept the darn gesture. "So why are you REALLY here?" She finally spoke after pulling the wrapped bagel out of the brown bag.

"Why did you REALLY call into work?" Abby threw back at her. Gilbert looked away from her friend and she stared at the floor. "Clearly you're not sick. And I don't think you have a family emergency or else your mother would've called me too. So what's going on?"

Erin was getting ready to unwrap her breakfast sandwich, but she quickly lost her appetite. Looking down at the food in her hands, she shook her head no while she responded. "I'm not happy, Abs." She kept the sandwich in one hand but the other hand reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose before turning to look at Abby again. "Things are great. We're doing really well at work. We've met believers and we've helped them. All I've ever wanted was to meet people who wouldn't make fun of us or call us crazy. And it's finally happened. But I'm still not happy." She looked down into her lap again. "Why is that?"

"Gosh, see I-" Abby shook her own head, wondering herself. "I don't know, Erin. Maybe it's because you...you won't let yourself be happy?" 

"What?" Gilbert looked to her best friend as if that were ridiculous.

"I mean...you've lived almost your entire life unhappy. And I know you. You find change terrifying. Which is probably a good reason for you trying as hard as you did to get tenure at that stupid school. So maybe...in all your years of living alone and a bit miserable...you've grown comfortable with it. And the thought of that being different makes you recoil and stop yourself from doing anything that would seem a bit confusing to you."

"But I DID try something different. I tried too hard actually." 

"Oh yeah? How?" Yates wondered.

"With Kevin." Erin replied. "And now I'm so embarrassed knowing that he might have feelings for someone else." Gilbert's eyes suddenly widened as she squeezed her lips together, hoping she wouldn't say more.

"Kevin?" The woman with glasses leaned back a bit while she waited for an explanation.

Her best friend gulped. "Yeah. I mean...I think he does. At least, his feelings are not for me, that is."

"Ah." Abby nodded, her posture relaxing a bit.

"I just..." Erin decided to change the subject. "...I wish I knew what the solution was."

Abby scoffed. "Don't we all!" She exclaimed.

It was silent for a moment and Erin just stared down at her sandwich while she fiddled with the paper still wrapped around it. She looked to her side at her friend and they each gave each other a small grin before they both opened their mouths about to say something. When they noticed the other about to speak, they both closed their mouths to let the other go first. Again, they read each other's minds then both opened them again in unison before laughing and shaking their heads, wondering when they'd one day stop doing the same things at the same time. "You can...you can go first." Gilbert allowed.

Instead of saying, 'no, you' like she wanted to, Abby obeyed and she felt nervous for her friend as she spoke. "Do you think you're in such a funk because of what happened with Holtzy?"

Almost too quickly, Erin responded, "What? No." Her heart was now thumping. 

"You sure?" Yates wasn't quite buying it.

"Why would THAT put me in a funk?" The scholar with bangs that fell just over her eyebrows felt her hands beginning to sweat and she debated putting the bagel back in its bag, but she was too nervous to make such big movements.

"I don't know." Abby shrugged and looked at the wall across from them. "Maybe because you like her?" 

Erin's voice grew abnormally high. "What? No. I don't like her," she paused, "...like THAT."

"No. No. Of course not. I meant as a friend." Now Abby began to feel a bit embarrassed when she started to examine Erin's sudden strange behavior. DID she like her like that? She asked herself before continuing. "I mean, maybe you're upset that you had to hurt someone so close to you." Yates reiterated while she awkwardly fidgeted with her own fingers in her lap. 

"Oh." The former employee of Columbia University slightly relaxed. "Maybe." She also turned her head to look at the wall across from them and in no time, she began to ask herself the same question Abby was thinking in her head. Had she started to like Holtzmann as more than a friend? That wasn't possible though. She'd never liked a woman like that before. Why would she? Her heart began to beat faster once again and she felt herself in a sudden state of panic and pure confusion of the woman she was.


	23. Thank You

"You, uh...you gonna eat your sandwich?" Abby finally broke the silence.

"Yeah, um..." Erin thought for a moment while she stared down at the food in her hand and she quickly put it back in the bag before standing up from the bed. "I think I'm gonna...I'm gonna come into work with you."

"Really?" Abigail looked up at her friend with a smile.

"Yeah, I just...I just need to figure some stuff out and maybe I just need to get back into the swing of things as if nothing has changed." She looked over Abby's head at the bathroom door. "I guess...Maybe." She looked back down at Yates. "I don't know. But, I'm gonna go change."

Abby finally stood from the bed as well. "Alright, well. I'll be out in the living room."

"Okay." Suddenly, Gilbert remembered. "Oh, wait. Uh, while you're out there...Don't look up."

"What?" Abigail swore she never understood her friend.

"Just...don't look up. Trust me." Erin made her way to her closet and she opened the door while looking at Abby over her shoulder.

"Uh, okay?" The shorter of the two awkwardly turned and went out into the family room to wait for Erin to change. It was actually harder than she thought it would be to NOT look up after being told not to. If Erin hadn't have said anything, she's sure she wouldn't have looked up anyways. But now she spent her next few minutes forcing herself to keep her eyes down. At one point, she took her glasses off to clean them, attempting to keep herself occupied and her mind flashed to the first day they met Kevin. Yes, cleaning your lenses was a bit inconvenient and a somewhat of a pain at times, but she couldn't imagine being so unaware as to take her prescription lenses out. Chuckling at the strange man, she internally shook her head at him before putting her glasses back on.

And she did it. She totally forgot what Erin had said and her eyes looked up at the plain white ceiling. There it was...the eight legged creature crawling its way toward the wall to climb down. The sound that came out of the arachnophobic's mouth was that of a cat about to fight. It was not a scream, nor was it even a shout, just a strange sounding 'Uhhhhhh' and once the spider reached the end of ceiling, it began to crawl down the wall. As terrible fear struck the paranormal researcher, she couldn't help but swear it was headed straight for her to attack, even though the tiny thing probably had no knowledge of the human even being present.

"Erin!" She was finally able to speak real words. "Erin, get out here!"

In her bathroom, as she just finished brushing her teeth, Erin put her tooth brush away after her last spit and sighed. "You looked up, didn't you?"

"Uh...yeah." Yates stood completely still as she pictured a swarm of the spider's family members crawling out of every space in the room and crawling up her legs and all over her body. "Hurry!"

"Just a minute!" Luckily, Gilbert had changed pretty quickly after Abby had left her bedroom and she was technically finished getting ready, she just had to put on some shoes and grab her Dunkin Donuts bag. As soon as she exited the room, she was not shocked to see Abigail frozen solid, staring over at the wall the spider had begun to climb down. "Let's go." Gilbert cautiously approached Yates, slowly reaching up to put a hand on her arm. She was relieved when the woman didn't slap or punch her like the day at summer camp when something similar had happened in their tent. Erin had a bruise for over a week and she'd learned to be very careful around Abby when a spider is near.

"Kill it." Yates whispered with a shaken voice.

"We're just gonna go. Everything will be fine. He doesn't even know we're here." Erin did not like the little pests herself so she wasn't planning on getting close to it either. But she was glad she wasn't as terrified as Abigail. "Come on." She gently squeezed Abby's forearm and began to pull her toward the door.

Abby's feet had begun to work, but her eyes were stuck on the arachnid behind them while she followed her arm in Erin's grip. Once they reached the door, Gilbert pushed Abby out into the hallway before she went out herself and she locked the door before turning to see Abby relaxing. "Phew. That was a close one." Yates nervously chuckled and Gilbert smiled with her breakfast in hand before they turned and headed toward the stairs.

As their cab pulled up to the station, Abby found it suspicious when a strange truck pulled away from the building. She got out first and held the door open for Erin while she stared at the leaving vehicle. Erin paid the cab driver and Abby shut the door, still keeping her gaze on the white truck down the street.

"Did you see that?" She gave Erin a slight nudge on her arm to get her attention and when Gilbert looked, she pointed to the unknown moving truck. "Why was he parked out here?" The woman in glasses wondered.

"Hmm...I don't know." Gilbert shrugged it off. "Let's go." She put her hand on Abby's back for a moment before heading to the entrance.

Even though Abby turned and followed Erin in, she still looked at the truck as it turned left at the stoplight down the road. When it was gone, she looked straight ahead and followed her best friend inside. Patty was the first one to walk over to them with pure joy on her face. "You've got to see what Kevin did!" The dark woman took Abby's hand and dragged her and Erin further into the station. They heard Holtzmann's excited voice and when they looked up, they saw her running around four, big and black leather chairs. The blonde danced around just like the day the real estate agent showed them the fire station and Erin couldn't help but think how adorably bizarre the engineer was.

"What is this?" Yates said aloud when Patty let go of her hand and they were closer to the four chairs. Kevin leaned against one with his arms crossed and big smile on his face.

He was taken aback for a moment when Jillian had run over to him, grabbing one of his arms in excitement and pulling it down from his chest. She let go of him then danced over to one of the loungers and plopped down in it. She picked up a remote that had a chord attached to it, connecting to the chair she sat in and she aimed it at Erin and Abby. While staring at the two of them, she pushed one of the buttons and the recliner slowly began to move up. Her feet wiggled with happiness as the foot rest finally hit its final position. "Watch this." She said in an abnormal tone. She pushed another button and the back of the chair began to fall back, putting her in a laying down position. The second she was all the way back, she pressed the button once more to move back up and see the ecstatic looks on both Abby and Erin's faces. "Wait. Wait for it." The excited ghostbuster still aimed the remote at the two women. She pushed the third button and a motorized sound came from the new piece of furniture. "Ahhhh..." She closed her eyes with a large grin wiggling her back against the leather behind her.

"Are those-" Erin began to ask, but Patty answered before she could finish the question.

"Massage chairs." Tolan clapped her hands together with a content laugh before she sat down in her own, leaving the feet down but pressing the massage button.

Abby looked to Kevin who finally stepped away from the one he leaned against and she moved in closer to him. He also moved closer, his stomach almost touching her chest, and he looked down at her with a grin. She beamed up at him and spoke. "Kevin, why did you-"

"Well, you three-" He stopped himself, looking up behind her to count in his head, then corrected himself, "...you four are always complaining about how heavy your proton packs are and how much they hurt your back." He shrugged. "So, I bought these."

"But how?...You don't get paid much here." Abby suddenly admired the man she was looking at.

"Well, my last acting gig as an extra gave me enough to pay for them." He confessed.

"You spent your paycheck from being in a movie on massage chairs for us?" Erin asked him.

He looked to Erin. "Yes, of course." His gaze returned to Abby directly in front of him. "Anything for you."

Gilbert couldn't help but think 'awwwwwww' in her head and she looked down at the chairs, feeling as if she were looking in on a private moment between the two. She hesitated to take one, but eventually sat in the one beside Jillian's. She looked to her left at the excited blonde and couldn't help but grin at the woman's happiness as she watched her relax, something she clearly needed.

"Well, that was very nice of you, Kevin. Thank you." Abigail stared up into his electric blue eyes for a moment, slightly getting lost in them. She cleared her throat, looking away and pointed to her left. "I'm gonna..."

"Yeah, go ahead." He stepped back, letting her sit down in her own chair to test it out.


	24. Flustered

All four women sat in their chairs, enjoying every minute of it. Both Jillian and Abby laid back in theirs and Patty and Erin sat up. Patty's eyes were closed with a large grin on her face as she softly hummed. Holtzmann wouldn't stop fooling around with the buttons and she would sometimes move the recliner up and down. Abby stared up at the tall ceiling of the fire station, her mind still on the nice gesture from their receptionist and Erin wouldn't stop looking over to Jillian. 

"Hey, Kevin." Abby pressed the recliner button, sitting up. She looked to the man sitting in his uncomfortable chair at his desk. "You wanna try mine for awhile?" She wondered, finally beginning to see that he was, in fact, an attractive looking man. 

"No, that's alright." He waved his hand in front of his face with a smile.

"No, really. Come over here and try it." She stood up and pointed to the seat on her right. At first, he didn't budge. "Come on." She egged on.

He sighed and gladly stood, walking over to the woman. Yates put a hand on his muscular back, but only for a second as she panicked feeling her arm begin to shake and her face grew warm. When he sat down, he looked up at her with a grin. Abby swallowed hard while they awkwardly gazed into each other's eyes. She broke the eye contact and reached down to pick up the remote in the chair and she pushed the massage button for him. He leaned his head against the back of the chair and closed his eyes. "Yeah. That's nice." He admitted with a small nod.

"Right?" Yates nodded as well, standing beside the chair. He reopened his eyes, looking right into her gemstone green ones. They both nervously laughed and she thanked him again for the chairs.

"No problem." Suddenly, the feet began to go up and Abby panicked, not even realizing she had let her thumb down on one of the remote's buttons in her hand while she lost herself for a moment. 

"Oh." She shook her head, snapping out of her daze and pushing the button so the foot rest would go down. "Sorry. Sorry." 

Kevin chuckled and he stood up from the chair, looking down at Abby before pointing behind him. "I should, uh...get back to the phone in case it rings."

She slightly nodded with an awkward smile. "Kay." She watched him begin to walk back. "Thanks again, Kevin." She tried to sound normal again.

"You're welcome, boss." He playfully pointed at her and made it back to his desk.

Little did either of them know that all three of their coworkers watched the whole thing from their own chairs and Patty and Jillian continued to exchange the same looks. They smirked a few times and Holtzy took her yellow glasses off, biting the ends of them while she watched. Erin loved what she was watching, though her expression did not say so. She caught herself in deep thought while witnessing the moment and after Abby awkwardly sat back down, she immediately looked to the blonde on her left.

Her eyes fell to Jillian's right hand. She was wearing black leather gloves that exposed her fingers, as usual. It rested on the arm rest right beside Gilbert's left arm rest, and the brunette pictured her own left hand reaching over to hold Jill's. But instead, she brought the same hand up to play with her bottom lip for a moment before putting it down in her lap with the other hand. She had turned her massage chair off the moment she noticed Abby's heart eyes toward Kevin. Staring at the floor in front of her, she started to doze off, but she shook her head, snapping herself out of it before stretching her arms above her head. 

"So, Erin." For some reason, Gilbert internally panicked when she heard Jillian speak her name. Her head snapped to the blonde beside her. "I thought you were sick." Erin sent her an awkward grin before gulping. "Tried playin' hooky?" Holtzmann joked and waited for a response.

"Not exactly." Erin didn't know what to say. "I mean..." She looked away from the scientist. "Nevermind." She practically whispered and she began to rapidly move her leg up and down, her heel tapping loudly on the floor. Gilbert leaned to her right, propping her elbow up on the arm rest as if it would help her move away from the woman beside her. Her head rested in her hand and she stared down at the floor again.

"Welp!" Holtzmann turned her chair off and brought the foot rest down. She immediately stood. "I'm gonna go on up and work on my new bad boys." She began to head toward the stairs but stopped for a moment, getting a good look at Kevin at his desk and she looked to Abby right after. She noticed the woman seemed extremely flustered and while she passed Abigail's chair, she put a hand on her friend's shoulder, knowing exactly what she must be going through at the moment. She sighed and headed toward the stairs.

"Hey, Erin?" Patty said from the chair on the opposite side of Holtzmann's. "You alright?"

"Hm?" Gilbert looked over at Patricia.

"You good?" Tolan wondered.

"Yeah, I'm-" She didn't even know what she was going to say, but she stopped herself from whatever it was. "I'm gonna go put my stuff up in my locker." She quickly stood, grabbing her purse and heading up behind the blonde.

When she finished putting her jacket and bag in her maroon locker, she turned around, staring at the staircase and wondering if she wanted to go down. Her gaze moved to the doorway of Jill's lab and she set all her weight on one foot, pursing her lips as she wondered what she would do. She decided to just let her feet take her wherever.

She turned, looking into the cluttered room. Gilbert stopped in the doorway, watching the blonde work on one of her proton shot guns that she had been ecstatic to make months ago, but never got to it. Staring at the blonde from the side, she noticed the beauty and poise in the woman's profile while she worked. It wasn't until now that Erin noticed the small mole on the right side of Holtzmann's face right above her cheek and to the side of her eye. When Jillian blinked, concentrating on the pipe in her hand, the woman standing in the doorway deeply inhaled. Feeling flustered, she turned to leave, but heard the voice behind her. "Whatcha doing?" Holtz asked, never looking to the door.

Erin awkwardly turned back around, never knowing that Jillian saw her there. "Um, I don't know. Just bored, I guess."

Holtz finally set the pipe down and leaned both hands against the desk in front of her while she nodded. "Wanna see how awesome this is gonna be?"

NO! Erin wanted to scream, but she slowly walked into the room anyways. "Uh, sure."

Jill waited until she made it to her table before she began to speak."No, no. Come over here." She gestured to the brunette to join her on her side of the counter to get a good look at her blue prints. Erin hesitated, but obeyed. The closer she got to Holtzmann the hotter it felt in the room and she swallowed hard once again, staring at the excited woman too close for comfort. She barely listened to anything Jillian was saying as she fought back an urge to yell at her to move away. "And then BOOM! The ghost dissolves into a million pieces and the containment box sucks all of them in!" The blonde slammed her hand on the table, proud of herself, and Erin slightly jumped.

"Nice." Gilbert nodded, having only heard the end.

"I know." Holtzy looked down at her blueprints and tapped her fingers on the desk. She had her right hand on her hip and was proud because she had finally been able to stand in the same room as Erin without wanting to punch something. Not only that, but now they were standing extremely close, and yes she did feel butterflies, but she was no longer angry. Until....

The blonde felt a hole in her stomach when she noticed Gilbert's hand had reached over to rest on top of hers on the table. Jillian looked down at their hands, her smile fading and she turned her head to look at the other woman, just inches from her. Holtzmann could hear Erin taking in a deep breath before she closed her eyes and leaned in closer to the blonde.

Panicking, Holtzy stepped back, pulling her hand away from Erin's and the former scholar opened her eyes. "What are you doing?" Jill asked with a failed attempt to make a strange voice. 

"I-" Gilbert felt her heart racing and she noticed herself shaking while she tried to think of an answer.


	25. Acrimony

Neither Jillian NOR Erin could believe what had just happened. Did Erin just try to kiss her? The both of them swallowed while looking at each other intensely. The taller of the two kept her hand on the table to her right as she took one step toward the blonde whose back was up against one of the other tables behind her. After taking her single step, Erin opened her mouth as if to speak, but it was seconds before any sound found its way passed her larynx. "I was just-" She felt her body shudder when she examined the expression on the other woman's face. 

The blonde let out a brief laugh. "We shouldn't, uh..." She stopped talking and her smile immediately vanished before she pulled her yellow glasses down over her eyes.

"Wh-Why not?" Gilbert asked with confusion. "Jillian-"

"Erin..." Jill closed her eyes and shook her head. "...don't call me that." She spoke in a raspy whisper as if trying to catch her breath. "Please." Her anger was beginning to metastasize and hearing her say her first name was not helping.

"What's wrong?" Erin couldn't help but nervously smile as she wondered what the other was thinking. "I thought you-"

"No." Holtzmann replied before Erin could even finish. 

"No??" A bit disoriented, Gilbert simultaneously stepped back on the foot she had recently stepped forward on. Her right arm never moved.

"No." The estranged inventor repeated, finally looking back up to the particle physicist. 

"I-" 

"You're just doing this because you're lonely and I'm the only one who'll give you the attention you need. So, no." She shook her head again. "I'm not gonna let either of us get hurt in a time like this. We just need to be rational about the whole situation and you need to find what you're really looking for." She slightly paused. "I'm gonna continue focusing on my work and you should just...figure out what you really want."

"I think I want you." Erin didn't sound so sure when she said it.

"No. You see...you THINK you want me. But you never would've even considered liking me had I not opened my trap, so...just please, forget about it. All of it." Jillian found her gloved hands resting inside the pockets of her baggy, violet pants. She looked down at the counter top to her left.

"I can't." Gilbert confessed. 

"You can."

"I can't!" The brunette argued. "Before I even found out about you I was having dreams about us all the time." She confessed.

"You wer-"

"Mhm." Erin nodded with wide eyes as she interrupted the woman opposite her. "And you know what? I'm pretty sure I liked you before you even said anything." She crossed her arms over her chest for a short second before awkwardly uncrossing them and letting her right hand find its way back to the table while her left hand rested on her hip. "I was just-" She closed her eyes trying to figure out the best way to explain, "...I just didn't really know because I thought, you know...you're a woman. But after some thought, I realized that didn't matter. Preoccupying myself with Kevin must've clouded everything and I got distracted from noticing that when I went home at night...you were always the one I thought of the most." She listened to Holtzmann let out one of her obnoxious groans before continuing. "You still are." 

After a few seconds of silence, Erin slowly began to walk toward the trapped blonde. She was between her and the table and the closer Erin got to her, the more Holtzmann wished she had perfected her time travelling machine attempt from back in college. It all sounded fake and rehearsed, or at least...it wasn't how she had wanted it to happen. Deep in her mind, she could still feel that this was all just Erin's reactions to finding out about Kevin and Abby and finding out about Jill's feelings.

She was staring down at her own black t-shirt that read, 'You call me weird like it's a bad thing' when Erin approached her, confining her against the table. She looked up at the brunette and her eyes quickly moved back and forth between each of Erin's. Something told her that Gilbert had never done anything like this before and that only made her want it more. Her feelings were only aggravated and encouraged when Gilbert reached up, taking off her yellow safety glasses. Erin looked down at them for a moment before setting them on the table to her right. 

Jillian watched her put her own version of a security blanket far from her and she gulped, immediately wanting them back on her face. She could feel the other woman staring down at her through the corner of her eye and hesitated to look up at the smiling, shaking brunette.

The offbeat engineer lost her breath when she felt Erin's hand reach down to hold hers, their fingers wrapping around each other's in a hug. Holtzmann, still holding her breath, looked down at her pale hand in Erin's and she began to blink rapidly, remembering what events had led up to this moment. "I-" Her eyes closed when she felt those annoying tears beginning to surface. "I can't." Her shoulders slouched even more than they already were when she spoke and she felt Gilbert's grip on her hand loosen and the aforementioned philosopher turned around, walking away from the short scientist. 

"Ugh! I don't know what you want!" Abby's high school friend turned back around to face Jillian with frustration. 

"I want to get back to my toys." Holtzmann reached over, grabbing her yellow glasses off the table and urgently placing them back on her face. Through her amber shaded lenses, she could see Erin frowning at her. 

"Fine. You know what? I'll go." Gilbert squinted at the blonde with a hint of pain and hostility. She turned to leave, but stopped herself before saying, "And just so you know, these little inventions of yours...they won't keep you warm at night. And they won't stop you from one day seeing your big mistake." Not even sure if that made any sense, the brunette still turned and left. She stopped just outside the door and leaned against the wall to calm down a bit. As she put her hand to her forehead and looked up, she noticed she wouldn't be able to calm herself when she felt the tears begin to roll down her cheeks. 

The moment Erin was gone, Jillian stood behind her squared off section of desks. She sucked her cheeks in like a fish and played with a piece of wood that was coming off one of the tables. She found it hard to breathe as she stood there, feeling like a lost child. Eventually, her left hand reached up to pull on an area of her wavy hair. She slapped her hand down on the wooden surface before doing a full circle and holding onto both sides of her glasses at her temples. 

She was still mad, though now she was angry with herself and a vivid feeling of regret overcame her. She put her hands back in her pockets for a moment as she shifted her weight back and forth from her right foot to her left foot. Knowing Erin pretty well, she knew the woman was most likely still standing outside of the lab, so the groan that wanted to escape Jill's throat stayed trapped and she let the burning in her throat grow worse before sniffling and bravely taking off her glasses, leaving them on her desk when she walked around it. 

As she stood in the center of the room, she stared down at the floor with both excitement and apprehension. She let a few of her own tears fall before quickly wiping them away and stretching her arms and legs as if about to run a marathon. She wanted to shout out, but didn't when she slightly felt faint before taking in a few deep breaths. After the last, loud puff of air, she closed her eyes and said, "Erin?"


	26. Struggle

Erin stood with her back against the wall beside the lab door. Upon hearing her name from inside the room, she forced herself to stop crying and she took a few deep breaths before pushing herself away from the flat surface behind her. Thoroughly rubbing her eyes, she tried her best to rid herself of looking as though she had just been crying. The only ones who had ever seen her cry in her life were Abigail and her parents and even around them, she had attempted to keep herself looking strong, but they knew her at her most vulnerable. She especially did not want Holtzmann to see her red eyes at this point, so she waited a couple seconds before deciding to turn the corner to enter the room.

When she laid eyes on the nervous inventor, she straightened her posture a bit more, hoping Jill would assume she was doing just fine. She stopped a few feet from the entrance, watching the blushing blonde stare down at the floor with her right hand on the back of her neck. After rubbing it for a minute, Holtzy finally put her hand down and looked up to Erin. "What?" Gilbert finally asked.

Before finding the capability to respond, Holtz put her gloved hands back in her pockets and she kicked one of her black leather boots at the floor. "I'm, uh...I'm sorry. I just-" She stopped speaking as she wasn't quite sure what to say. The hesitation after the start of her sentence soon grew awkward and she began to pick up on Gilbert's look of brief irritation. The brunette was about to speak when Jillian decisively continued. "Go on a date?"

"What?" Erin slightly slouched.

The blonde closed her eyes, missing her yellow lenses again, but pushing through as best as she could. "I mean, uh...you and I should go on a date." She put her arms up over her head, unaware if she was doing this right. "If you want to, I mean. Um, I-" She gave up, realizing she got her point across and the rest was up to Erin.

The lump in the back of Gilbert's throat after crying never went away and she tried to swallow before responding. "I, uh...I would love to, but, um..." Her tongue suddenly got the best of her, as it often did. "...like you said, I should figure out what I really want first. And who knows if that's really you?" Bitter and morose, she turned and headed down the stairs.

"Oh my God! Erin! Erin, check this out!" Patty said with excitement when Gilbert reached the bottom of the staircase and headed over to her own desk in a state of hostility. Tolan lifted up a flap of one of the arms of her massage chair.

"Cupholders!" Abby offered Erin a look, but the moment the brunette sat down, she wasn't budging. She pretended to look and sent both Patty and Abby a fake smile with a hint of condescending snootiness. After said smile, she looked back down at the papers on her desk, attempting to look busy.

They heard another set of footprints descending the steps and Yates and Tolan excitedly turned to see Jillian. "Look! They got cupholders." Patricia decided to try getting Holtzmann as delighted as they were. When she noticed the look on the muddled blonde's face, her own smile faded, as did Abby's.

When Jill took her last step on the staircase, it was as if she finally remembered there were more people in the building other than her and Erin. She looked around at the other three as if everything was fine, though they knew better due to the speed at which she had come down the stairs. Yates looked back and forth between the two of her best friends. "Everything alright?" She noticed the odd tension.

"Yup." Gilbert rudely replied from her desk, another snobby looking smile plastered on her face. "We're all good." She fictitiously nodded and glanced at the blonde before averting her eyes right back down to her papers. "Right, Holtzmann?" She flipped over a page.

One of Holtzy's hands was still resting on the railing behind her, but she let it fall to her side as she attempted to relax her posture. "Oh, yeah. Everything's fine." She nonchalantly nodded. "You know, just..." She glared at the woman at her desk before looking back at Patty and Abby. Before she had followed Erin downstairs, she had put her glasses back on, so she felt comfortable enough for an embarrassing lie. "Just turned down Erin's offer to go out on a date." She said with a sense of pride.

"You what?" Patricia had a feeling the blonde was joking, but she didn't find it funny.

"Yeah, she asked me out, but I said no." Jillian brought both hands up to her hips, hoping Erin would snap...And it worked.

"That is NOT true!" The particle scientist pushed her chair back as if she were about to stand. "She asked ME out and I said no."

"Why?" Abby jumped in a little too quickly and everyone in the room looked to her. "What?" No one answered her and she walked over to her high school friend's desk to whisper to her. "We both know you like her."

Erin stood and walked around her desk to stand face to face with the shortest of the group. She kept looking over to Jillian while she whispered back. "Abby, I'm freaking out."

"What's the matter?" Yates also glanced over to the blonde by the stairs a few times.

"I don't-I don't..." She softly groaned while frustratedly shaking her hands in front of her. "Ugh, I don't knowwww." She took another glimpse at the woman by the stairs who was trying to pretend like she couldn't care less if Erin went out with her or not. But the brunette knew differently and she began to feel nauseous, hating herself for her behavior just a few seconds ago. "What if it doesn't work out?"

"Hey," Abby whispered but Erin was staring at Holtz. "...hey!" She snapped her out of her gaze and she looked to Yates. "Even if it doesn't work out...you're both adults and you'll get over it. But if you don't at least try...you'll probably regret it for a long time. And it may even make it harder for you to work together."

"It will? How?" Gilbert accidentally looked back to the wacky engineer for a moment.

"Because you'll both just spend your time wondering how things could have gone." Abby looked over at Jill herself, noticing the look in the secretly sad eyes passed the yellow lenses. "Besides...even if it doesn't work out NOW, I'm sure you'll both try again later anyways. So you might as well just try now."

There was no response for a while as Erin seemed to be thinking it over and she looked back over to Holtzy. She watched her silently communicating with Patty across the room and a slight grin appeared on her face. 'What is happening?' She silently wondered when she found herself thinking about how admirable the strange woman was. Adrenaline began to surge throughout her body and her face lit up as she was ecstatic for what she was about to do. She looked back to Abby and held both of her hands up to their chests, squeezing them like an excited teen about to ask someone to the school dance. "Okay. I'm gonna do it."

"Yay. Go on." Yates moved away, pulling her hands out of Gilbert's nervous grip.

As Erin took her steps closer to Holtzmann, her smile faded when she recalled how she had just treated her and she stopped a couple feet away from her. Jill looked up at her for a moment before looking passed her and at Abby who moved to stand next to Patty once again. They both pretended to keep fussing with the chairs, though they all knew they were paying close attention to the two by the stairs.

"I, um...I'm really sorry." Erin gulped, her cheeks growing warm and pink. "And, uh...I would," she nodded with her eyes closed, unable to believe what was about to happen, "...I would love to...try...and...go out, on a date...with you. Ummm..." She didn't even have anything else to say, but she said 'ummm' anyway, "...yeah." She nodded again with a hopeful grin. When Jill didn't answer immediately, she spoke again. "Again, I'm really, really sorry. I shouldn't have acted the way I did. I just uh...I get a little crazy sometimes." She laughed at herself toward the end of her statement and nervously awaited the response. "So...?" Nothing. The scholar began to wiggle her fingers at her sides and her voice dropped to an awkward high pitched tone but was almost barely audible. "Why are you not talking?" She asked while staring at the wall beside them.

The blonde finally made a sound...though all it was was a loud clearing of her throat. She reached up and took her glasses halfway off, leaving one side hanging on her ear. Her tone of voice sounded mysterious when she oddly asked, "Are you sure?"

The taller woman rapidly nodded. "I- Yes..I am." She scratched her head before awkwardly saying, "I am if you are." A strange giggle followed and she shook her head, wondering why she was such a dork, though she had no clue Jillian loved that about her.

"You free tonight?" The glorious weirdo scarcely grinned before eagerly opening her mouth and moving her tongue to the right side of her upper lip, on stand by for the answer.

Just now deciding that her favorite feature on the woman was her eyes, Erin couldn't bring herself to speak as she gazed into them with a large smile and a nod. Her somewhat of a response caused Jillian's mouth to close, though her smile grew so wide, she wondered if they could see all of her teeth.

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A/N: Sorry this chapter was a bit cheezy and not at all that great. I promise to make it up with the next chapter though. Again, I'm sorry. Please leave comments and reviews. Mwah!


	27. Date Night Part 1

The plan was for Erin and Jillian to go home and get ready before meeting back up at the station. It didn't take the blonde too long to decide what she wanted to wear as she only owned one dress. It was pretty form-fitting, scarlet red, and made her super uncomfortable. But she wore it anyways, as her goal was to both shock and impress Erin as best as she could. The real question was what she would do with her hair. She had it up in its usual style when she looked in the mirror and she tilted her head to the side, unsure if it fit the dress that stopped mid-thigh.

Suddenly, she remembered that Erin is the one who knows about her long hair. With a bit of dread and anxiety, she reached up to the back of her head to take out her bobby pins. Her locks fell passed her shoulders and she gave her mane a small shake before flipping a chunk of it with her hand. She fussed with it for a moment before deciding that Gilbert was to see her natural hair at some point if tonight worked out at all anyways, so she might as well just leave it the way it was.

After staring at herself a bit longer in the full body mirror, she went to her messy living room to grab a pair of shoes. She felt it hard to breathe for a moment as she realized she didn't own a girly pair of shoes that would complete her ensemble. She stared at the six pairs of boots she owned and wondered if any of them would look semi-okay. After about half a minute, she shrugged her shoulders and just threw a pair on before going back to her room and seeing how they looked. They were black and old, and she never tied this pair. The laces were short and left to hang at the sides of her ankles as the tongue of the boots were folded over the top of her feet. Before deciding on wearing them, she grabbed her dark leather jacket from her cluttered bedroom floor and put it on over her shoulders. It worked. Well...at least it worked for her and she did one more annoyed hair flip before grabbing her small duffel bag filled with supplies for tonight's plans and she left the apartment.

Erin's preparation was different, however, and she changed her outfit about seven times before finally deciding on a simple grey dress with long sleeves. The skirt stopped at her knees and she put her hair in an effortless, but extremely cute, side ponytail. She did her make as simple as possible, remembering that Holtzmann liked it that way and she wore her most comfortable pair of beige business heels. She hadn't a clue what the date plans were, but she decided to trust Jillian this afternoon when she said that she had the best ideas and she would choose one of them by the time they met up tonight. Gilbert was a bit annoyed that Jillian didn't give her any clues or at least tell her one of the ideas so she had a hint on what they'd be doing, but she shrugged it off and grabbed her purse, heading for the door.

Little did either of them know that Abby and Patty had secretly schemed to show up at the station that night as well just to get a look at the two before their date. They both arrived about five minutes earlier than Holtz and Erin's meet up time. As they stood and waited, they talked about the couple and Abby asked Patricia all kinds of tiresome questions about why she hadn't noticed the flirting between the two. Tolan internally rolled her eyes at the stout woman while laughing at the fact that she was missing another picture that included herself.

Finally, a cab pulled up and they clapped for Erin when she stepped out of the yellow vehicle. "Hey, hey. Lookin' good." Patty exclaimed as she and Abby both walked closer to the woman on the sidewalk.

"Cute!" Abigail added.

"What are you guys doing here?" The blushing physicist wondered aloud.

"We came to wish you guys good luck." Abby reached up and grabbed a strand of her friend's hair from her ponytail. She pulled it down before stepping back and getting a better look at the whole outfit. She nodded with a grin and Erin couldn't help but roll her eyes with modest embarrassment.

It wasn't long before a second cab arrived and Patty and Abby walked over to the car to open the door. Erin stayed back, waiting for her date to get out and she couldn't help but chuckle at Patty and Abby's oo's and ahh's as they opened the cab door. The other two blocked her vision of the blonde and she tried her best to look around them.

"Oh my!" Abby exclaimed after getting a better look at Holtzmann. Finally, Erin was able to see her and she asked herself how she didn't pass out right then and there. The brunette looked at the woman from head to toe, then from toe to head and the strongest case of butterflies she had ever felt built up in her stomach. She wanted to laugh at Abby as she ran circles around Holtzmann in awe. "Oh my God, oh my God! You look wonderful, Holtzy!" The woman in glasses continued to circle her as the pale engineer blushed.

Patty's eyes were wide the second she stepped out of the cab. "Damn, girl!" She and Abby followed her over to Erin.

"Hey." Jill hardly spoke.

"Hey." Gilbert couldn't stop smiling and she suddenly looked to Patty to the right of her.

"Oh, uh...We'll leave you two alone now." Tolan grabbed Abigail's arm. "We're gonna go get some chinese." They started to head away from them, backwards.

"Where are you going?" Abby asked, clearly not wanting to leave yet.

"It's a surprise." Holtzmann answered, looking down at the sidewalk.

"Okay, well you two have fun." Patty pulled Abby harder.

Abby tried to resist her, but failed and she was eventually forced to turn around, walking down the street with Patricia. "Kay, bye." Erin awkwardly waved after their back were already turned. "That's...emmmmbarrassing." She snapped her fingers before clapping her hands together, then repeating the action a few more times. She looked down at Holtzy's shoes and was shocked at how much it actually went with the outfit. "So, uh...what's the bag for?" She reached for the strap on Jill's shoulder, then quickly pulled her hand away.

"You'll see." After Holtz's response, Erin slowly nodded and looked down the street at their friends moving further and further from them. She saw Abby constantly looking back at them and she began to bite her bottom lip. "You, umm..." Holtzmann began to speak again, causing Gilbert to look back to her. "That's a very pretty dress and hair." The peculiar woman scowled at herself for saying it in such a strange way, but she hoped she got her point across.

"Thank-thank you." Erin's hands were begin to sweat and she folded them in front of her, fiddling with her thumbs. "There, umm..." She couldn't help but stare at Jill's hair before looking down at the bright red dress. It was a moment before she could even finish and she closed her eyes before speaking. "...there are no words to describe how you, umm..."

"Thanks." Holtzmann interrupted her, realizing she was having a hard time speaking.

"Yeah." Erin nervously nodded with haste, internally thanking the blonde for knowing what she meant. She chuckled and looked back down at the duffel bag. "So, uh...are we going?" She hoped that didn't sound rude.

"Yes. We may go!" Holtzmann turned and headed back to the cab. Erin followed her and they got in, heading out for their first date.


	28. Date Night Part 2

"Wow. It's really beautiful here, isn't it?" Erin broke the uncomfortable silence while she and Jillian sat down on the chartreuse colored blanket in the grass at Astoria Park. Through the trees they could see Triborough Bridge and Hell Gate Bridge on either side of them. They had set up their small picnic on the edge of East River in between the bridges. Erin looked up at the stars above them while Holtzmann took off her boots to get more comfortable before digging into the pizza they had picked up on the way there.

"Mhm." The blonde replied with her first bite of the cheesy food.

The other woman hummed at the gorgeous sight of the park before turning and grabbing a piece herself. She noticed that Jill had, at some point, removed her shoes and she wanted nothing more than to take her heels off as well. But, she was very self-conscious so she decided to deal with the tiny hint of pain that would appear in the balls of her own feet later. They heard the crickets that chirped while they ate and Erin closed her eyes many times just to enjoy the light breeze and the sound of the water of the river in front of them.

It wasn't until they finished eating that Erin spoke. "So, what else is in the bag?" She asked, remembering it was used to hold the blanket they sat on.

"Well..." Jill smiled at her as she closed the lid of the pizza box. She turned to face the bag on the other side of her and unzipped it, pulling out her small radio. She held it in her hands as if presenting it to Gilbert and set it down in between them. She pressed the power button and 'Rapture' by Blondie began to play.

Holtzmann immediately stood up and began to dance, flipping her long hair around. Erin stayed on the ground, looking up at the woman while she danced and she bopped her own head to the beat with a smile. It wasn't long before Holtz reached down, grabbing Erin by both hands and pulling her up to dance with her in the soft grass. The rap part came and Erin was shocked to see Jillian mouthing every word. She looked at her with an impressed expression as her dancing slightly slowed while she focused on Holtzy. She nodded, loving that Holtz knew all the words and Erin's shoulders began to move with more enthusiasm than before.

The song ended and 'Play That Funky Music' by Wild Cherry came on. Halfway through dancing, Erin was beginning to get annoyed at her heels constantly getting stuck in the grass. Holtzmann noticed her irritated expressions. "What's wrong?" She asked, still moving her hips to the beat as her arms rose above her head.

"Nothing. My shoes just keep sinking into the grass. It's okay. I'm fine." She waved a hand in front of her face as she kept on grooving.

"Take 'em off." Holtz suggested, still dancing as well.

"Nah. I'm good." Erin ignored the request and continued to dance. When the chorus of the song came, she began to sing along, which soon urged Jill to as well.

"'Play that funky music white boy. Play that funky music right. Play tha-'"

"Oh no." Gilbert said, looking down at her feet. "It's stuck again." She laughed and Jill stepped closer to help, but Erin didn't notice the woman approaching her as she forcefully pulled her leg up, and her shoe came out of the grass. But, she kneed Holtzmann in the chest and both fell down, landing on the blanket. "Ooo, ow!" Gilbert landed on her hip, but within seconds of expressing her own pain, she panicked looking to the woman laying beside her. "Oh my God, Holtzy, are you okay?"

The deep concern in Erin's voice caused the blonde to close her eyes briefly before rolling over to her side to face the former teacher. "Yeah, I'm-" They were eerily close. "...I'm fine." They gazed into each other's eyes for a moment before Erin laughed. "Are you okay?" Holtzmann asked, laughing as well.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm good." The brunette grunted, sitting up and putting her right hand on her pained hip. She sighed and looked up to the sky, letting go of her side and setting her hand down to the blanket. She leaned on that arm and felt another hand over her own.

"Oops, I'm sorry." Jill apologized as she sat up and took her hand away. Her nerves were back and she moved to turn the radio off.

"No, no." Gilbert looked back at her with an admirable smirk. "It's okay." She looked down at her hand, missing the contact from the other woman but ignored the urge to touch her again. She cleared her throat looking back at the water, sparkling with the reflection of the moon.

She felt Jillian standing up beside her. "Okay." The quirky inventor shouted. "Let's go."

"What? Where are we going?" Erin asked with sadness, hoping the night wasn't over already.

"That's another surprise." Holtz put the radio back in her duffel bag, which caused Erin to quickly stand with excitement that there was more. They both picked up the blanket and folded it before putting it back in the bag at Jill's feet. "I'll carry the pizza if you can carry my bag."

"Okay." Gilbert's voice cracked and she felt a wave of embarrassment before averting eye contact with her date and bending over to pick up the large duffel bag. She expected it to be much heavier than it was and was relieved to see that it was relatively light.

Jillian grabbed the box of leftover pizza and led Erin out of the park and back onto one of the busy streets of NYC. When they walked down 19th street in Queens, they came across a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk and Holtzmann gave him the whole box of pizza. She was still telling the man 'you're welcome' when she received the look from Erin that all girls dream about. The look of pure adoration while thinking to herself what a great human being this is and what had they done to deserve her. The moment she looked back over to the brunette, Gilbert looked away, trying not to show her admiration for the woman.

It didn't work, however, when the scholar's motor mouth opened. "You're incredible, you know that?"

Holtzmann shrugged and licked her bottom lip before walking closer to the road and putting her hand out to call for a cab. When she was unsuccessful, Erin whistled surprisingly piercing the blonde's ears. They got one though and hopped into the yellow taxi, heading to their next destination.


	29. Date Night Part 3

Holtzmann had told the cab driver to take them to 49-13 Van Dusen Way in Long Island City. Erin thought hard, trying to remember if she knew that address and she looked out the window, wondering where Jill was taking her. Holtz watched the woman beside her stare out the window as they relaxed during the 30 minute drive. She found herself looking the brunette up and down before her eyes landed on Erin's left hand on the seat beside her. Suddenly, she missed her yellow lenses, needing something to help her find the courage to reach her own hand over to hold Gilbert's. She slowly moved her right hand closer on the leather seat to the other woman's, but panicked when she saw Erin turn to smile at her. Jillian nervously smiled back and pulled her hand away and into her own lap before quickly looking out her own window, hating herself. As she leaned her arm against the car door, she suddenly remembered that her hair was down and she began to feel even more uncomfortable than she already was.

She apprehensively played with her locks, wishing she could reach into her duffel bag to grab her bobby pins and put it up. Her nerves prevented her from doing so, when she froze, not wanting to look back to the woman beside her.

They finally made it to their destination and Erin read the sign. It said 'Extreme Indoor Competitive Sports' and she gulped, knowing she wasn't much of an athlete. She turned around, paying the cab driver, and as he drove away, she reluctantly looked over to Holtzy. "What's this?"

"Well," Jill faced her. "...I've seen you kick some real ghost butt, let's see how you are at paintball." The blonde turned and headed inside.

Normally, Erin would've protested, but she decided this could actually be kind of fun and she shrugged, following the shorter one inside. They made it up to the front desk and they looked at all of the fun activities on the wall behind the cashier. "Hello, ladies." The bald man with a dark soul patch grinned at them. "What would you two be interested in? We've got pretty much everything here. There's laser tag, paintball, we have an obstacle course and a trampoline park."

"Oh, yeah." The woman in the red dress turned to Erin. "I forgot they had laser tag. We could do that instead of paintball if you want. Paintballs do hurt pretty bad. If you don't wanna-"

"No. I, uh-" She looked down at her beige heels before slightly smiling at Holtzy. "Paintball would be fun. But I just, uh...I don't have the right clothes." She nervously looked to the man behind the counter then back to Holtz.

"No need to worry." Jill squeezed the strap of her duffel bag. "I took some of your clothes from the lockers at the station." She turned to tell the man, "Paintball, it is."

"Alright, cool. If you would like a two to three hour session, that would come to about thirty-five dollars. You do not HAVE to stay for the full two hours, but just know that if you do leave earlier, you will probably not get your money's worth." Jillian reached into her duffel bag to pull out her wallet as the man continued. "Our rules are simple. No physically hurting opponents on purpose and no cheating." Holtzmann paid him and he opened the cash register.

"What's," Erin squinted at the board behind the average sized man. "...'I Survived The Room?'"

"Oh, Erin. You don't wanna do that." Jillian swore to her as she took her receipt from the man.

"What is it?"

The employee explained. "That is our game of mental and physical survival. You and a group of about three to five other people are placed into a room where different scenarios can occur. We have three different rooms. You must try to escape within the hour. One room is an asylum, one is a real life version of the zombie apocalypse, and the other is an attempt to escape a casino during a Russian Roulette version of Poker."

"Ooo, that sounds fun." Erin's eyes grew wide when she smiled at Holtzmann.

"No. Erin, trust me you do not wanna go in any of those rooms."

"What? Are you saying I'm not tough enough?" It suddenly got super serious between the two and the guy behind the counter felt awkward standing there. He watched the both of them stare into each other's eyes, Erin seemed a bit daring and Jillian was shocked at her sudden bravery.

"Erin." Jillian began...remembering when she came to this place years ago and heard from one of the adults nearby that it was the scariest and most terrible experience of their life.

"Jillian." Gilbert glared at her with a hand on her hip. She knew saying her first name would get to her and the blonde sighed.

"How much is the escape game?" She asked the man with a serious case of jitters.

"It depends. Which room do you want?" He looked at Erin, realizing she would be the one to choose.

"The asylum sounds fun." She smiled at him, then Holtzy. She would've chosen the casino one but quickly remembered she didn't know how to play Poker.

"That'd be twenty-five." The man replied.

Jillian looked at the excited expression on Gilbert's face and she broke. "Alright." She said in one of her strange tones before pulling out the money.

"So, do we go do paintball then just come out here whenever we want for the room?" Erin wondered.

"They're scheduled." The stranger looked at his watch, then to the computer by the cash register. "It's about 8:30 right now, our next scheduled trip for asylum is at 10. So you've got about an hour. I'd say get out here around 9:45 though, because we have to assign you two to a group."

"Awesome!" Gilbert hit her hand on the counter. Jillian was shocked at her unforeseen enthusiasm.

You can change in the locker rooms back that way." The man pointed and Jill nodded, already knowing where to go. "Have fun, ladies!" He called out to them as they headed back to change.

"Thanks, Holtzy." Erin nudged the blonde's arm while they walked.

"Yeah, you won't be thanking me later." She walked while looking down at her feet.

"Hey. Lighten up." Gilbert playfully hit her arm again.

"You don't understand, Erin. Those games mess with your mind and people leave in tears." Holtz honestly answered when they reached the woman's locker room.

"Have you ever done it?"

"No. And I never planned to."

"I could've just gone myself if you wanted." The brunette said when they entered the room filled with women of all ages.

"No. I wouldn't make you go in there alone." Holtz said in a protective tone when they picked two lockers to keep their stuff in. She set her duffel bag down on the bench and opened it to pull out her clothes as well as Erin's.

"What about shoes?" Gilbert asked, holding her shirt.

"I, uh...I brought a couple pairs of my boots. I don't know what size you wear, so I hope they'll fit." She handed her one of the pairs and grabbed her stuff before heading to one of the bathroom stalls.

When she was gone, Erin let her arms drop in frustration at the sudden coldness from the blonde and she shook her head before deciding to quickly change where she stood.


	30. Asylum Part 1

After changing, Gilbert was shocked to find that she and Holtzmann wore the same size shoe, considering the blonde was so small. Well, Erin did have small feet, or the blonde was wearing boots that were too big for her. She didn't know and at the moment, it didn't matter. She walked over to the bathroom area, looking at her hair in one of the mirrors. She took the hairtie out and put it up in a higher ponytail.

Looking at herself in the reflection, she saw Holtzmann come out of the stall behind her, wearing proper paintball attire. She wore forest green, baggy pants and a plaid, blue and gray button down, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Erin noticed the woman was more comfortable and she smiled to herself, forgetting about being a bit mad at her. She grinned because she realized that Jillian had gone uncomfortable for about two hours just for her and that made her feel even more special than she already had.

They exchanged soft looks through the mirror when Jill walked up to the sink beside Erin to finally put her hair up in her usual style. Gilbert knew she didn't need to when she was done with her own hair, but she stayed next to Holtzmann while she watched her put in every pin.

When finished, Jillian looked at Erin in her jeans and gray sweatshirt and chuckled at the boots that fit the woman. She took a deep breath after secretly swooning over Gilbert in a ponytail, which she found completely adorable on the woman. They walked back over to their lockers and Holtz reached into her bag, pulling out her yellow goggles and putting them on her head. "Ready?"

"Yupp." Erin muttered.

"Let's go." Jillian clapped and did a small, strange dance before heading toward the door and Erin giggled at the engineer before following her.

Before going into the paintball arena, Holtzmann warned Erin about the pain that would come from getting shot and Gilbert brushed it off. She barely tried shooting at anyone as she spent most of her time following Jillian around and laughing at her dorkiness. At one point, Holtzmann dove, pushing Erin to the ground to save her from being hit. Right after falling to the ground, Gilbert noticed an opponent aiming for them, so she sat up on one knee, pushing Holtzmann back down and shooting at the teen, who was out within seconds.

It wasn't long after that, however, that Erin was finally shot right in the hip. The same hip, in fact, that she had fallen on at the park earlier, and she swore there was going to be a bruise there, but she forced herself to ignore the pain in order to keep Jillian convinced that she would be fine. She walked over to the side and seconds later turned to see Holtzmann getting shot on purpose just so she could be out with Erin. Ironically, Jill was shot right in the chest...where Erin had kneed her in the park earlier, but she was tough and acted as though nothing happened.

Soon after being taken out, the two headed out of the arena to get ready for 'I Survived the Room.' They took off their rental pads and gave the guns back to one of the female workers, a teen who seemed to hate her job. After Erin gave her goggles back, the girl tried taking Jill's as well, but both ghostbusters had to convince her that the yellow lensed pair were owned by Holtzmann.

Erin waited for Jill outside of the locker room when she went in to switch out her goggles for her smaller glasses. They walked over to the front lobby by the counter and stood near a group of about eight to ten people. Most were teens and they were all so excited. Though Holtzmann knew better and she awkwardly kept her head down while waiting beside her date. Her heart was pounding and she feared for the cute ghost girl beside her. She kept her mouth shut, however, not wanting to upset Gilbert on their fun night.

"Okay!" The bald man from before stepped out from behind the counter with a pile of papers in his hand. "I'm gonna need you all to sign these forms stating that you chose to participate in this activity and if you are injured in any way, shape, or form, it is not on us and you cannot sue." He handed out the papers before walking around the group with a cup of pens. Holtzmann, of course, hesitated to sign, but when she noticed Erin's eyes as she speed read, she decided to fully read the paper herself. Nodding along while slowly reading, she looked up to see that none of the teens had carefully read the warnings and she shook her head before finally signing. She looked up at Erin who smiled down at her and she faked a smile back. "Okay, so...this half will be on one team, and this half will be on the other." The employee gestured to both sides of the room. Holtzmann stepped closer to Erin, making sure they ended up together. "Now, this side will be in room 201, this side is in room 203. The mission is to escape the asylum within the hour. If you do not escape, then you will not get anything, but if you DO escape, you will win a booklet of thirty coupons to EICS." He looked at the teens who seemed confused. "In case you don't know what that is, it's short for Extreme Indoor Competitive Sports. Now...these two lovely ladies will lead you to your rooms." He pointed to two more teen girls who stepped forward while he stepped back around the counter. "Good luuuck." He said in a tone that caused Jillian to shudder and dread what was about to happen.

"Are you sure you wanna go through with this?" The blonde whispered to Erin as they followed the group down a creepy, dark hallway.

"Yes. Come on. It's gonna be fun." Erin whispered back. She did not see the small grin she received from Jillian as she watched the female in front of the line open the door they were to walk into.

The whole group entered the small space and looked around before hearing the door slam behind them. They all turned around to see that the teen who was to be their 'temporary guide' was no longer there and all the lights in the room were instantly shut off. One of the youngest teens in the group whispered, "Oh my God!" and her voice cracked.

"Shhh." Jillian said as she heard footsteps. She could feel someone standing closer to her and she wanted to believe it was Erin.

The lights flickered like strobe lights and Holtzmann, the closest to the door, could hear disturbing laughter coming from outside it. "What's going on?" One of the teen boys asked.

"Shh." Holtzy shushed again, taking one more step toward the door.

Not being able to see was beginning to concern her because she needed to know that Erin was okay. There was a familiar noise that she knew to be the sound of a hand on a door knob. It slowly turned and the creeking of it opening caused her body temperature to rise. "What was that?" The same girl from before whispered.

"BOO!" The lights turned on to reveal a tall, scrawny man in doctor's scrubs eerily laughing. He stood in the doorway with his head to one side and his disoriented hair caused Jill to turn, looking for Gilbert who acted as though she had seen scarier things. Holtz relaxed and looked back to him. He finally stopped laughing to speak. "One, two, three, zero, three." He repeated his counting once more before returning back to his creepy laugh and leaving the room with another loud slam of the door.

The whole group, besides Holtzmann, jumped as the door slammed and she squinted when he left, wondering what that clue meant. She looked up at Erin and they both exchanged looks as if knowing what each one was thinking. They looked at the group with them. A teenage couple, who were huddled together in one of the corners, a father and his son and one lone teen girl who had been put in the wrong group as her friends were in the other room. Erin and Holtz nodded to each other, knowing that they were probably going to carry the group, being scientists and all.

"What was that about?" The father asked after the sinister man left.

"It was one of the clues, Dad." His son answered with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"Alright. Well, what was it a clue FOR?" The lone teen wondered.

"Sounded like a password." The boyfriend of the panic-stricken girl in the corner asked.

"No. It was a zip code." Erin argued. "A zip code for..." She thought hard for a second.

"Schenectady." Jillian jumped in.

"Yes!" Her date agreed with excitement.

"What does Schenectady have to do with anything?" The father wondered.

"I remember Patty saying that she read about a massacre that happened in an insane asylum there. Maybe that has something to do with it?" Gilbert wondered.

"Guys, look." The girl who was split from her friend group bent down, seeing a crack in the floor. She pulled up the broken piece of floor and pulled out a small notebook.

"Let me see that." Erin kindly asked. The teen handed it over. "Thanks, uh..."

"Freya." The girl told her her name.

"Thanks, Freya." Erin smiled and opened the book. "It's a diary." Holtz moved closer to her to read over her shoulder.

"Hey, look." The woman with yellow glasses on reached up to the book, pulling at a string that was used as the book's bookmark. Erin opened to the page it was set to and speed reading it, she saw the word 'Schenectady.'

She began to read aloud. "'I remember when I once visited Schenectady to see my third cousin. My mother told me, before I left, not to mention my visions while I was there. But I did anyway and my Aunt Vicky tried to put me away. Little did they know, I was stealing all her golden chickens." After reading, Erin closed the book. "What?"

"What the hell?" The son asked.

"Danny!" His father scolded him. "Language."

"Brian, I told you this was a bad idea. I'm already freaking out. This doesn't make any sense." The girlfriend of the other teen moved away from him in frustration.

"Oh, come on, Steph. We just got in here." He responded.

"Guys, guys." Gilbert tried to get them to focus. "It's not that complicated."

"It isn't?" Danny's father asked.

"No. It's not." Holtz pointed at the wall behind them all and it had four different handles on a second door. "Just open the door using the chicken."

Brian shrugged his shoulders before walking over to the door and turning the door knob shaped like a chicken and it opened with no problem. He turned, smiling at his girlfriend. "See? This is gonna be a piece of cake."


	31. Asylum Part 2

After showing off for Stephanie, Brian turned back to look out at the hallway they were to enter and his smile slowly faded when he gulped, seeing the flashing lights of the corridor that was decorated to model an actual asylum. It was quite ominous and they could hear faint, terrifying screams and mumbling from each of the rooms. The suddenly cowardice young man turned back around to nervously smile at the group. "Who's going first?" He asked and Erin was the one to jump to the lead.

Holtzmann followed close behind her, not wanting to get split from the former scholar at any point, just to keep an eye on her. Tilting his head to the side, Danny walked out after the ghostbusters and his father stuck with him. Freya followed Dan's dad and Steph and Brian were in the back of the group. They slowly walked down the hall, getting startled left and right by actors who were behind all the fake asylum doors. Every now and then one would hit their door as loudly as they could before screaming or letting out a hairsplitting laugh.

Jillian was impressed at Erin's calm demeanor and she wondered what it was that made her so brave. The blonde wasn't scared herself, but that was mostly because she was so focused on Erin. Man, tonight's date had really turned into something special, huh? She asked herself.

"Hey!" They all turned to see one of the actors behind the small, barred window of his cell door. "Come over here." He looked very different from all the others. They were all disheveled and had very convincing and terrifying makeup on. He, however, seemed cleaner than them and not at all like he belonged. Erin looked over her shoulder at Jill who nodded, the both of them realizing he must be another part of the game. They obeyed him and walked closer to the man's door, the group soon followed. "Hey." He whispered before looking down the hall on both sides as if making sure no one was coming. "Teddy's got a skeleton." The man began to chant as if it were a catchy song. "Teddy's got a skeleton."

"HEY!" The group jumped, turning to see the creepy doctor from before coming out of one of the cells with a punishment stick. "No talking to the patients!" He approached them and Erin and Jillian stepped away from the door just in time before the malevolent doctor hit the man's door as hard as possible with the stick. The sound made all the actors in the hallway go nuts and it grew louder.

The group was too occupied looking all around them and Jill hadn't noticed how much closer to the door she had moved. The cleaner patient grabbed her by the collar through one of the bars and significantly pulled her to him. She hit the door pretty hard, causing the rest of the group to turn and look at them. "Oh boy." Holtzmann said in a calm, but awkward tone and he got in her face.

"Teddy's got a skeleton." He repeated once more before letting her go.

"You okay?" Erin asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm good." Holtzy shook her shirt to fix the wrinkle in it from the man's grip.

"Okay, I wanna leave. Like now." Steph looked to Brian with an infuriated look and he avoided eye contact with her as he also wanted to leave, but he didn't want to admit it.

"It's fine, guys. If we just put our brains together, we can figure out what we're supposed to do. Right, Holtzy?" Erin looked to her date, who was still shaking her shirt and they all heard a clink on the floor beneath her. The blonde stepped back and Erin bent down to pick up a key that had fallen from Jill's shirt. She smirked at Holtz, who playfully stuck her tongue out. "Well, we've got a key. Let's find out where it goes."

"Can I see that?" Dan's dad wondered before taking it from Gilbert. "Hmm...it has some type of equation attached to it." He looked at the tiny piece of paper attached to the handle of the key. It read, '1-2...2-4...4-8' Holtzmann reached her hand out to get a good look at it and she brainstormed about its meaning. She looked up at the numbers on all of the patient doors and noticed they were from one to eight.

She pointed to room one, then over to room two right across from it. After pointing to two, she followed her finger to room four, then from there...diagonally to room 8. "We have to go into room seven." She finally spoke.

"What?" Freya asked.

"That doesn't make any sense though." Brian furrowed his brow in confusion.

"I think it's just telling us that the equation is times 2 everytime." Steph added in. "We should go to room two."

"No. That's where people mess up. You're overthinking it. If you were to draw a line from all of these rooms, it would make the number 7 on the floor. We must go into that room." The blonde overdramatically pointed to the door with said number on it and led them over to it. She used the key to unlock the door and when it worked she stretched her arms over her head in celebration with a brief yelp of excitement.

"Wow." Freya stepped into the new room first.

"We should listen to her everytime." Danny said, going in after Freya. His father rolled his eyes, realizing his son had a slight crush on the teen girl and he went in after him.

The rest of the team joined the three in room seven and they looked around at the props. "Hey." Steph smiled, walking over to the thin cot. "A teddy bear."

"There's a rip in it." Erin noticed from afar.

"Hey, maybe there's something inside it." Danny's father suggested and Steph began to open it at the rip.

"Yeah, maybe it's a skeleton key." Brian added, receiving a glare from his girlfriend. "That guy kept saying, 'Teddy's got a skeleton.' Maybe he meant skeleton key."

"That's really-" Steph was about to tell her boyfriend how dumb or ridiculous his theory was, but she stopped when she slowly pulled her hand out of the stuffed bear. In it was, in fact, a skeleton key. She looked at it, in awe of her boyfriend's sudden smarts and he smirked, proud of himself.

"Good teamwork, guys." Gilbert said in an impressed tone.

"So where does this one go?" Freya wondered.

"Well, skeleton keys are supposed to be rigged to open any of the doors to any room in one building." Former ghost girl spoke, remembering that from watching the movie, 'Skeleton Key.' "Maybe it opens all of the ones here?" She looked to Holtz as if asking if that were right. The blonde neither confirmed nor denied as they stared at each other.

Suddenly, they all jumped when red lights, as if from atop a firetruck, began to flash throughout the whole hallway and in every room. Every asylum door opened and the actors from each cell came crawling out like they were mad and they hadn't seen the outside of their cell in centuries. After a few seconds of them pretending to be scared of the outdoors, they all grew hyper and began to run around, searching for a way to get out of the asylum. One of the fake patients entered room seven and took the skeleton key right out of Stephanie's hand and Erin and Holtz tried to chase after the female patient, but she shut the door before they could exit the cell, taking the key with her. She let out a dire chuckle before yelling, "Thank you, Bartholomew!" And she laughed again while they listened to her voice get further and further away from them.

"Bartholomew?" Both Erin and Holtz looked to each other as they repeated one of the woman's words.

"Oh no!" Freya exclaimed. "We're locked in here, aren't we?"

The ghostbusters looked to each other before Erin tried opening the door. It did not budge.

"This can't be happening." Steph was beginning to panic again. She paced around her area of the tiny room with her hands on her head.

"Maybe Bartholomew was another clue. It's alright, babe." Brian tried to hug her but she ripped herself out of his grip.

"Is the hour up, yet? I want out!" She continued to walk back and forth with fear.

"I'm sure we can get out of here before an hour." Erin was sure of herself and the group had begun to silently appoint her and Jill co-leaders of the pack.

"Hello, patients." The frightening doctor was back and he was looking in on them through the tiny window of the door. "You want out?" He asked in a low, disturbing whisper.

"Yes. Get us out, please!" Steph answered quickly.

Right after she spoke, he hit the door with his punishment stick just to startle them and they all jumped with a gasp as Brian's girlfriend let out a small scream. The doctor laughed. "I'll let you out if you can finish this riddle?"

"We're all ears." Holtzmann waited.

"I speak and the father kills the son. The son kills the mother and the mother kills the grandmother. The grandmother kills the granddaughter and the granddaughter kills herself. The worst thing is that when they listen to me, they hear their own voices. Who am I?" He began to stick his hand through the small space of the door while speaking and Erin began to wonder how he was so good at his job.

"Death?" Brian wondered.

"No. It's madness." Danny's father spoke.

"Madness it is." The creepy doctor seemed disappointed and shocked at the man's smarts, but he kept up his end of the deal and slowly opened the cell door to let the group out.

"Oh, thank God!" Steph said, following Erin and Holtzmann out right away.

Once they were all out of the cell, the door closed and the scrawny man in scrubs began to laugh. Holtzy squinted at him with suspicion and she opened her mouth to speak. But before she could say anything, all the other actors jumped out of the cells they must've been quietly hiding in and they all placed a bag over each of the group member's heads.


	32. Asylum Part 3

Every member of the group was escorted down the asylum hall and out a hidden door with their hands tied behind their backs. They made it to the room the actors wanted them to be in and were forced to kneel. Everyone could hear Stephanie crying and Brian tried to help her calm down, but he was epically failing and Holtzmann couldn't help but wish she and Erin had never done this.

"Alright. Listen, cupcakes." The man whose voice they recognized as the fake doctor's spoke. "You're going to spend the next ten to fifteen minutes searching our asylum hospital for certain items. You will-" He paused. "STOP CRYING!" The man broke and yelled at Steph, who sniffled and felt Freya's comforting elbow beside her. Doctor Freakshow continued. "You will search for any hidden item in here that can be used for any type of cooking. The patients will untie your hands now and when you hear the door close, you may take off your bags." He laughed like the Joker from 'Batman' and they heard his footsteps head around them. After feeling their hands set free, a few seconds went by and they heard one last chuckle from the actors before the door was opened and then closed.

Stephanie was the first one to rip her bag off her head as well as ridding Brian of his just to slap him in the face when they stood. "I can't believe you made me do this!" Her tears were no longer falling, but her eyes were still red and Brian apologized.

"Hey, guys. Can we focus, please?" Erin asked after helping Jill stand up. "Great job thinking of that riddle back there, Mr..."

"Greg." Dan's father spoke.

"Mr. Greg."

"No, no. Just Greg."

"Oh." Gilbert blushed, thinking to herself, 'duh!'

"And thanks. I'm an English professor and I put up riddles every morning just to see if any of my students can ever get them right. I've seen that one online before."

"Really? You're an English professor? Where?" Erin asked, quite interested as a former professor herself.

"NYU." Greg replied.

"Nice. I was a Physics professor at Columbia." She nodded.

"Impressive." He nodded as well and Jillian felt a sense of pride in being the one dating her.

"So, uh...we only have fifteen minutes to find as many objects as we can in here, so why don't we, uh...cut the chit chat?" Danny asked, embarrassed at his geeky father.

"Right." Erin responded before everyone began to search the fake infirmary for any item that could be used in a kitchen.

Their fifteen minutes was finally up and the head doctor walked into the room with several other actors in scrubs behind him. They were all the same actors from the asylum cells but they had just changed their costumes and Holtzmann began to think to herself how silly it was that they put so much effort into this sort of thing. She set her thoughts aside as she listened to another speech from the Joker wanna-be.

"Time is up!" He held a baseball bat over his shoulder now as if he would use it as a weapon. They all knew he couldn't and wouldn't, but this game was to play mind tricks...and Steph was a clear example of that. "I hope you found them all. Or else you will have some trouble getting through some of your future clues." He chuckled and effortlessly jumped onto one of the hospital beds like a monkey. His coworkers looked through all of the found items and a few of them taunted the team members. Erin and Jillian continued to make eye contact from opposite sides of the room. "What's that?" The man said before jumping down from the hospital bed and picking up one of Holtzmann's items. "Is this a reflex hammer? And you put it with kitchen supplies?"

"Well, I was thinking it could be used as a meat tenderizer." The blonde took the tool from him and mimed hitting a steak before chuckling at herself. When she saw that he wasn't amused, she set it back down on the table in front of her and listened to him lecture her about being a smart alec. She attempted not to roll her eyes and at one point, she looked over his shoulder at Erin standing behind him.

The brunette was making faces at him and mimicking him with hand puppets. Holtz couldn't hold it in much longer and she burst out laughing, as did Freya and Greg and Dan chuckled a bit. Steph was too angry to laugh at anyone and Brian was trying not to make her even more mad. The lead actor turned around, catching Erin trying to act like nothing happened and she put her hands behind her back with a smirk she couldn't fight.

"You making fun of me?" He asked, moving in face to face with her. She slightly shook her head no, attempting not to laugh herself and he turned around to walk away from her. He only took a couple steps before turning back around and swinging his baseball bat at her, but stopping his swing right at the side of her head. She put her hand up to protect herself and leaned back when she flinched. He put the bat down at his side and screamed in her face before urging his coworkers to leave with him. As he held the door open for his last fellow actor, he spoke again. "Have fun with the fire."

"What?" Greg asked and his question was instantly answered when the last actor to leave set a pile of fake hospital papers on fire and left while laughing.

"Are you serious?" Steph was no longer terrified, just furious and she looked around the room, finding a fire extinguisher.

"I got it!" Holtzmann took the extinguisher from her and put the fire out right away. When the flame was gone, she looked down at the red item in her hand. She saw a name tag taped to it that said. 'Hi, my name is Bart, from room 8.' Holtz remembered the woman that stole the skeleton key shouting thank you to a Bartholomew. "Guys, we have to go to room 8 now."

"I'm not going back to any of those cells." Steph stated with her arms folded over her chest.

"We have to." Jill said in one of her weird voices.

"We gotta stick together, babe." Brian added in, trying to move closer to hold her, but she moved away. "The manager didn't tell you guys this because it's supposed to be a surprise reward when we get out of here, but if we all succeed as a team, they give us our money back."

"Seriously?" Greg asked him. "How do you know that?"

"My brother works here." He replied.

"Yeah, that's why my sick boyfriend decided to force me to do this." His girlfriend added in.

Holtz walked sideways away from them when they began to argue and she turned to her date, inches from her and spoke as quietly as she could. "You alright?" She noticed Erin hadn't moved since the doctor pretended to hit her in the face. The shaken brunette looked down at Jill and closed her eyes before nodding. "You sure?" Holtz wondered.

"Yeah." Gilbert whispered. "Just...freaked me out a little bit." She chuckled at herself, remembering it was just a game and she forced a smile for Holtzy. "I'm good."

"Let's just not provoke him anymore, okay?" The blonde suggested in a playful voice, hoping to get a genuine smile this time. It didn't work, though she did receive a genuine nod and they all headed out to room eight.

When they got there, they found that this room was very different from the others. It was already opened and when they walked in, they saw fake splatters of blood covering the walls. A noose was hanging from the ceiling and on it, hung the skeleton key they needed. Except...there was no furniture in the room and it was too high for any of them to reach it.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" They all turned to see the head actor standing outside the door. He gave a maniacal laugh before Erin answered.

"As a matter of fact I do."

"Erin." Holtz shook her head at the frustrated woman near the door.

"You better watch out. Some say this room is haunted. Ooooo." The man wiggled his fingers in front of his own face.

"Really? Where's this ghost of yours?" Gilbert asked with an attitude.

"Erin, don't. It's just a joke." Jill slouched at her date's poor behavior.

"Yeah, well it's a sick joke. You know what? I think you take this job a little too seriously." She had no idea that, in character, he would snap, letting out a loud scream before hitting the metal wall beside him three times.

The action was a code and someone somewhere turned the lights off again. Seconds later, they heard someone yelling, "Don't mess with the Warden!" and the lights were turned back on. Erin and the man were gone.

Freya gasped. "Where'd they go?"

Jill just stood with her hands in her pockets and her eyes wide open from what just happened. She ignored the statements from the peanut gallery before eventually snapping and realizing it had probably been about five to eight more minutes, meaning they were a little over the halfway mark to an hour. She told herself she was not going to let Erin get fake tortured, or whatever was happening to her for thirty minutes and she turned to the group. "Okay, everybody SHUT UP!" She shouted, shocking all of them as well as herself. "This game is about teamwork. So, what we have to do is work as a team." She said as if it were obvious. "So, everyone get down in a pyramid to lift me up to grab the darn key." At first, they all just looked around at each other before obeying her and they were successful in retrieving the device from the high rope.

Once they ran out of the cell, they turned left down the hall for the first time and worked together to find many different clues that eventually led them to a door with the word 'Escape' on it. They all sighed in relief, but just as they took a step toward the exit, they heard Erin's voice from a short distance. "Get away from me!" The wail sent shivers down Jill's spine and she turned to run toward the sound.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Steph wondered, about to put the key in the door. "She'll be fine. Once the hour's up they'll let her out."

"I'm not leaving her." Holtz started running back, but Greg grabbed her by the arm.

"Not without us." He turned, glaring at his son to go with her. "Guys, we don't get our money back if the whole team doesn't finish together." He looked to Steph and Brian. "We've got the key. We know where the door is. Now let's just go get her and come right back."

Steph turned to look at the door with sadness as she tried to decide. Slouching with a sigh, she handed Danny the key. "Fine. But we'll stay here and if you can't find us, just yell our names and we'll yell back so you can follow our voices."

"Thanks." Jill said before turning and running back further into the asylum with Danny, Greg, and Freya.

They eventually followed the sounds of crazy laughter to an undiscovered hallway, but they were unsure of what door to try. "Should we try the skeleton key?" Greg wondered.

"Erin!" Holtz yelled out, ignoring the offer.

"Jillian!?"

"Erin! Where are you?"

"I'm in here!"

They heard the sounds of chains rattling and followed them to the second to last door on the right. When they entered the cell, Gilbert was chained to a chair, surrounded by actors at all sides of the room. Each one was chained to a wall and they sat on the floor, mumbling to themselves. They all seemed like they were real patients at a psych ward by their behavior and a couple of them could get close enough to Erin to scream horrifying things directly into her face.

Jillian stepped further into the room, some of the actors stood and tried to make their way over to her but their chains were much shorter than they thought. The room was a bit too dark and she had to push her yellow glasses up onto her forehead to see better. When she finally reached Erin in the middle of the cell, another patient ran over to them, almost like a quick zombie, and he continued to shout, "Diablo! Diablo!" Erin was terrible in Spanish (though she swore she was close to an expert), but she was right about this was one word...devil.

The louder he shouted, the more Jillian could see Erin falling into herself. The man was right behind Gilbert's ear and the chained up ghostbuster kept her eyes squeezed shut, trying her best not to explode. Holtzmann yelled, "ENOUGH!" at the actor and he obeyed, running back to his corner of the room. The blonde knelt down and used the skeleton key to unlock her feet, then she moved to her hands.

Once she was free, Erin stood as fast as possible, turning to the blonde behind her for a tight hug, instantly wrapping her arms around her neck. Holtzmann returned the hug, her arms pulling her waist closer to herself. Gilbert's heavy breathing assured Jill that she was crying and her arms shook as they rested, wrapped around the engineer's neck. "I'm sorry." The petrified physicist muttered into Jill's hair.

Holtz knew what the apology was for and she replied with her face nuzzled into Gilbert's shoulder. "Next time listen to me, okay?" They broke the hug and Erin nodded, the tears streaming down her face. She let out a single broken sob before both of them went in for their first kiss...their first three kisses. Each was short, but filled with passion, mutuality, and protection. The third one was a bit longer than the other two, but still brief and they hugged once more before finally leaving the cell to run back to the exit door.

When they got there, they tried the skeleton key that, in fact, did not work on the door. It didn't matter, however, as the door was already unlocked which told them that the plan was to have a member kidnapped the entire time. They ignored how cruel that was as they all just wanted to go home after what had just happened.


	33. Goodnight

Erin was quiet from the time they escaped the room, got their money back, grabbed Jillian's bag from the locker room, and headed out to grab a cab. The both of them stared out of the car windows on their own sides, as far away from each other as possible. The brunette's left elbow rested on the handle to the door while her cheek rested on the back of her slightly folded fingers. Her knees were pressed against the inside of the door as she kept her body facing away from Holtzmann. The other woman held onto the handle with her right hand while her legs were kept open on the passenger side. She leaned her head back against the leather seat behind her as she slouched quite far down the vehicle's chair. She blinked constantly, hating the silence and knowing they had to talk about tonight's events at some point. She cleared her throat, causing Gilbert to turn and look at her for a moment. "You, uh...you alright?" The blonde asked and she did not receive a verbal response, though the former scholar faintly nodded before looking back out the car window. 

Jillian sighed and took her glasses off her ears, holding them in her right hand as she nervously bit the end of one side. She looked ahead of her at the back of the passenger seat, hoping and praying that the turnout from tonight's date hadn't caused Erin to regret saying yes to her. It wasn't long before she returned the glasses to her face, wanting to break the silence again. "You want to talk about it?" She asked in a soft, low voice while looking back at her date. 

Still keeping her gaze out at the street, Erin replied into her wrist. "Not really." 

"Oh. Okay." Holtz looked ahead once more and their taxi came to a traffic jam, making the elongated silence even more painful. To keep herself from being too bored, Jill began to push the controls to the windows up and down, over and over again. It grew pretty old fast and she blew a loud raspberry of air out of her mouth, sending a piece of her disheveled, golden locks away from her face for a brief moment. When the strand of hair returned to resting over her left eye, she looked out the windshield at all the cars. Slouching down again, she disappointedly looked to Erin beside her. Her nose scrunched up as she asked, "Wanna get out and walk?" She knew they weren't too far from the station and maybe some fresh air would help them think of something to talk about. 

Erin finally put her arm down, looking out the window as best as she could to see the street signs. When she noticed where they were, she gave Holtz a, sort of, sympathetic smile of approval. She paid the cab driver and both women got out, heading over to the sidewalk. 

Halfway down the street, Gilbert was finally the first one to speak. "Do you want me to carry that?" She asked, gesturing toward Holtzy's duffel bag.

"Nah." The engineer shrugged, holding onto the thick strap that pulled on her right side. They took a right at the next corner. As they turned, Erin sneakily moved closer to Jill's left side, their shoulders grazing with every step. 

Their hands fought the urge to touch the other's. Gilbert put her tongue between her lips before folding them in and frightfully looking up at the stars. Before looking ahead of herself again, she tightly squeezed her eyes shut, suddenly remembering her lips had touched Jillian's. She felt a bit light headed, recalling the moment and how much of a head rush it had given her. But it was a good rush. Though the moment was brief and quick, she couldn't help but think it was perfect. Perhaps it seemed so ideal because it was in a moment of her own vulnerability and Holtz had brought her out of her fear upon the contact. She hadn't even planned on kissing the blonde tonight, but it just happened. And it was foolproof.

"I, um...I'm really sorry, Jillian. I am." She was happy to finally have the capability to speak back. She told herself that she couldn't apologize enough for not listening to the inventor about the escape game to begin with. Right after speaking, she quickly corrected herself. "Oops, I meant Holtzmann."

Jill looked down as she walked, which she always had as a child. She, herself, never understood why she stared at her feet when she walked, but high school eventually broke her out of the habit when she feared bumping into other kids if she weren't looking up. She hadn't a clue why walking with Erin brought her back to doing that childlike habit. "No, no. It's fine. You can call me Jillian. As long as we're not at the lab. Umm..." She cleared her throat. "You don't have to apologize." She changed the subject back to the main topic. 

"No, I do." Erin quickly looked at her before looking back ahead of her. "You were right. I should've listened and not forced you to take us in there. I'm sorry." 

Holtzmann's eyes widened as she continued to look down at the sidewalk below them. She was shocked to hear Gilbert so open to admitting she was wrong, knowing she had a knack for needing to be right all the time. "Well," she began, "...I just hope the rest of the night wasn't totally awful."

"Oh, no." The brunette unexpectedly reached her hand up to touch Jill's shoulder before immediately putting it back down to her side. "No. Tonight was wonderful. And don't get me wrong, I was enjoying the asylum. Just...not when Dr. Psychopath went nuts and I had to sit in that room of psychopaths in training. Thank you....so much for tonight. Really. I had a very good time." They took another right far down the block from their first turn. 

Jillian nodded with a smug grin. "So did I." She pushed her glasses up to her forehead feeling calm enough to not need the yellow lenses at the moment. She did grow a bit nervous, wondering if Gilbert was going to bring up the kisses that had, in Jill's opinion, been the best part of tonight. She playfully nudged the brunette. "Didn't...didn't I tell you paint balls hurt?" She let out a small chuckle remembering Erin's adorable yelp when she was shot. 

An awkward giggle cracked from the physicist's throat and she stiffly nodded. "Yup. You did. You were right about that too." An uncomfortable chuckle followed before she spoke again. "Although I had heard from other people that they hurt before you told me, so..."

"Really?" Holtz reached up with her left hand to pull a strand of her own hair.

"Yeah. It's pretty popularly known. Everyone says they're painful." Abby's high school best friend replied. 

"I don't think EVERYONE says that." 

"Well, yeah." Erin scrunched her nose, showing her teeth as she was pretty sure she was correct.

"Hmm." Holtzy shrugged, unaware that Gilbert was actually right about this one. 

"Anyway," The ex-professor decided to change the subject. "...I do think we should do this again sometime. Maybe." She shook her head at herself and cleared her throat, wanting to hit herself in the face.

"Yeah. Totally." Holtz repeated the last word, only much quieter. "Totally." They took a left, now walking down the street that led to the Ghostbusters station. 

When they finally arrived, Erin took a few more steps than Holtzmann did just to turn around and face the blonde, their hips perpendicular to the road beside them. "I'm really glad we did this." She thought her throat was closing, beginning to feel just a little bit more for the woman in front of her and she lost her breath for a moment, but immediately recovered. 

"Me too." The most eccentric of the two spoke.

Gilbert nodded and eventually turned, looking at the cars passing by and waiting for a taxi to come into sight so she could call for it to stop. From behind, Jillian sadly watched her anxiously trying to get out of there and she wondered what was going on in the other female's brilliant brain. Just one step from the curb, Erin put her head down and closed her eyes with a sigh. "Hooooo!" She blew a soft breath of air out of her mouth before shaking her head and turning around while she spoke. "About that kiss..." Before she could even finish, the quirky scientist had swiftly approached her from behind and the exact second the brunette was facing her, their lips touched. Holtz had decided to just go for it, no matter what Gilbert's reaction was.

The taller woman held her eyes open for a moment as she felt ten thousand different feelings flow throughout her body. Jillian's eyes were shut and her head was spinning with a sense of joy when she noticed Erin beginning to embrace the lip lock as well. It wasn't too long before the physicist's blue eyes were closed and her left hand, almost instantaneously, found its way to Jill's hip and the blonde let her duffel bag fall to the ground. Gilbert's right hand slowly reached up to hold the woman's other waist and when Holtzy's brain finally processed the mutuality in the soft, gentle embrace, both her hands reached up to hold Erin's elbows.

First, it started out as a simple lip lock, but the moment they both decided everything was okay, their lips parted and each swore to themselves that they could feel an actual tingling between their engaged lips. Their mouths parted a few more times before they finally broke the kiss. 

Erin's eyes remained closed when they pressed their foreheads together. Jillian, however, opened hers immediately to get a good look at the woman. She began to wonder if this was all a dream and she felt silly when she noticed her entire body had gone numb and she wasn't sure what was happening from the neck down anymore. She started to feel like one of the normal people and she fought back a laugh in this precious moment. Gilbert, be that as it may, was fully aware of everything, including the anxious movements her toes made within her beige heels. Neither of them had let go of the other, Jillian's hands still holding her elbows and her hands still holding Jill's waist. It wasn't until Erin felt the goosebumps form on every inch of her own body that she opened her eyes. She looked down at the ground between them, seeing the tips of their shoes almost touching, and they finally pulled their heads away to look into each other's eyes with a wide smile on both of their faces. 

Erin lost her breath again and couldn't help but giggle when she re-caught it. Holtz closed her own eyes just to take in an overjoyed deep breath. Butterflies danced around inside the both of them as they each wanted to say something, but didn't want to ruin it with any socially awkward statements. So, they just breathed together for a few seconds before Erin leaned over, kissing the shorter woman on the cheek. She felt her face growing red as she fought the urge to reach up and touch Holtzmann's wavy locks. "Goodnight." It came out as a whisper, but she didn't care and she turned around to face the road again, calling out for a cab.


	34. The Next Morning

A/N: Hey, readers. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been a little stressed lately and having some personal troubles. Things will pick up again and I really hope you keep reading. Please leave your reviews. Love you all. MWAH!

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"Oh. Hey, Holtzy." Abby greeted the engineer the next morning as the blonde entered the station with her duffel bag of more tools from home. She planned on finishing the ghost pagers today. "So..." The woman with glasses said from behind her desk. "How did it go?"

Jill did not answer, but the large grin on her face told Abigail it couldn't have gone bad. Holtzmann was humming ever since she left her apartment and still singing in her head upon entering the station. She went upstairs to put her bag in her lab and she came right back down to play with the massage chairs.

Yates smiled at her computer screen before quickly realizing something. "I wonder where Erin is." Usually Gilbert was the first one in.

"She may have overslept." Holtz slouched in her leather seat. "We didn't part ways until about one in the morning." She began to sing the song that had been stuck in her head. "I just want your extra time and your..." She imitated some smooching noises. "...kiss!" She bopped her head to the imaginary Prince song with her eyes closed and she did not see the smirk she was getting from the other scientist in the room, who eventually continued to type.

Abby was looking online for some more paranormal research books and lately, she'd been wondering if she should write another with Erin. This time with Holtzy and Patty included, they could write about all of their busts and explain in full detail how they did their jobs. Perhaps it would help the people of New York City understand their purpose more and maybe they would stop getting prank calls. She certainly did not want another event like the one at Bethany's engagement party to occur. She didn't speak up that day, but she saw how hurt Gilbert was. It felt like high school all over again for the both of them and Yates hated seeing her best friend go back to that place, considering she had become such a strong person since then.

Finally, the front door opened once again and both Holtz and Abby turned to see Erin walking in. She stopped as soon as she set her eyes on the blonde in her lounge chair and quietly clearing her throat, she looked down at the floor with an embarrassed smirk before closing the door behind her. She sighed, hating the butterflies for returning to her stomach.

"Good morning, Erin." Abby said, moving her gaze back and forth between the couple.

The taller brunette barely lifted her head to Yates as she walked over to her desk. "Morning, Abby."

"So, what'd you guys do?" The paranormal researcher asked, looking back to her computer.

"We, um...we just had a little picnic before going to play paintball. That's all." Gilbert set her stuff on top of her desk.

"Oh!" Abby exclaimed. "At Extreme Indoor Competitive Sports?" She continued to type.

"Yes?" Erin was surprised to hear that Abby knew about EICS.

"Awesome! Sounds fun." Abigail smiled at Jillian from across the room and Erin caught it. "I remember when you took me there once."

Holtzy nervously laughed. "Yeah. I remember that." She cleared her own throat, trying to avoid looking at the confused particle physicist who stood at her desk.

"Wait. You two went there...together?"

"Hey, y'all." Patricia walked in at the perfect time and Holtzy let out the breath she was holding. Tolan closed the door behind her while she smiled at Holtzmann in the chair. "Hey, you two love birds."

"Don't call us that." Erin said and she headed for the bathroom.

Both Patty and Abby watched her leave as Holtzy continued to play with the controls in her chair. The tallest of the group went to her desk and sat down while maintaining eye contact with Dr. Yates. "So, uh...Holtzy." She spoke.

"Wazzup?" The strange blonde responded with a fake accent.

"Did y'all have a good time?"

Jillian dropped the controller into her lap before finally looking to Tolan. "It was fun."

"But?" Patricia could hear the desire to continue in the blonde's tone.

Abby looked away from her computer for a moment to see Holtzmann shrug. "But nothin.'" She replied, taking off her glasses and biting the end of them.

"I thought I heard a 'but' in there." Patty looked to Abby.

"No." Holtz shook her head.

"No, I swore I heard one." Tolan tried to pry it out of her, looking to Yates again for help.

"You didn't."

"No, I think I heard maybe a...hint of one also." Abigail admitted.

A moment of silence.

"What happened?" Patty asked.

Holtz shyly looked at Abby before closing her eyes to speak. "She forced me to take her into 'I Survived the Room.'"

"What?!" Yates sounded flabberghasted and her eyes widened.

"What?" Patty looked between them. "What's that?"

"Holtzy, why did you let her convince you? You and I both said we'd never go in there. Ever." Abby seemed to have forgotten about her computer at the moment.

"Yes, I know. But she looked so excited to try it and when I tried to warn her she got angry with me and I didn't want our first date to end badly, so I gave in."

"I'm still waiting for an explanation, here. What the hell is 'I Survived the Room'?" Tolan asked.

Abby and Jillian looked to each other before back to Patty. "It's a mental survival game with crazy scenarios and riddles and actors emotionally torturing you. It-it's not fun." Yates answered her. "Holtz and I almost went in once, but we chickened out after seeing a grown man have a panic attack. It wasn't pretty."

"No, it wasn't." The engineer slouched in her chair.

"Oh, I've heard of stuff like that. I think anyone willin' to put themselves into those situations is crazy." Patty shook her head. "You smart not to go in, Abs. But, Holtzy..." She lowered her voice as if Erin might be able to hear them. "...Why'd you let Erin go in? I know she think she's tough, but we all know the truth."

Holtzmann sighed, not needing a lecture at the moment. "You guys don't understand. You didn't see her face."

They heard the toilet flushing in the bathroom and they all looked toward the bathroom door before Abby spoke again. "Anyway, what happened?"

"She was fine through most of it, but then she got fake kidnapped and harassed and it escalated pretty quickly."

"And?" Patty nervously looked to the bathroom once more, trying to hurry the conversation.

Holtzy spoke even faster when the faucet in the bathroom began to run. "And I saved her and we kissed. That's all."

Erin walked out of the bathroom and she stopped walking when she noticed the looks of shock on both Abby and Patty's faces. Rolling her sleeves down, she uncomfortably smiled. "What?"

"You two kissed?" Yates couldn't help the wide grin that grew on her face.

Gilbert awkwardly smirked, licking her lips and quickly glancing at Holtzmann. "Uh, yeah." Her cheeks grew red and she walked over to her desk, sitting in the chair and clearing her throat while the other three kept their eyes on her.

"So, I'm guessing there will be a second date?" Tolan beamed, her smile showing most of her teeth.

Jillian sat up in her seat as she placed her glasses back over her eyes and smiled at Gilbert. A small nod came from the brunette and she looked away from Jill as fast as possible. "Maybe. Hey, Abby. What was that guy's name we went to high school with? He dated the girl that always had a mismatched pair of leg warmers?"

"Uhhh..." Yates stared at Holtz while listening to Erin describe him.

"He was like an inch taller than me with the bleach blond hair that was spiked and kind of all over the place?"

"Um, Charlie Larson?" She looked back to her best friend.

"No, no. His dad was a teacher there."

"Ohhh...Rocky Turner!"

"Yes!" Gilbert exclaimed, slapping her hand down on her desk. "I saw him at Starbuck's this morning."

"Really?" Abigail awkwardly looked to Patty before flicking her eyes to Holtz and looking back to Erin.

"Yeah. I didn't talk to him though. He's changed a lot too. I barely recognized him."

"So...it might not have even been him." Abby pointed out and Erin took a moment to think about it.

"Oh. Yeah." She thought about it for a moment. "I guess not." She tapped her finger nails on the table in front of her. "But it also could have been him."

"Did he bully you guys, too?" Patty jumped in.

"No. He was one of the guys who tried to be as nice as possible." Gilbert responded.

"Well, that's good. At least SOMEONE did." Tolan crossed her arms and leaned forward against her desk.

Holtz decided to jump in as well. "Too bad I wasn't there to bust some-"

"Can we change the subject, please?" The particle physicist interrupted.

It was silent for a while and Kevin finally arrived during the suddenly uneasy moment. "How is everyone this morning?" He wondered after closing the door and immediately looking to Abby.

"Good. Good." Yates cleared her throat and continued to do some more research, attempting not to keep glancing over at him, but failing.

"Hey, guys. Guess what." Holtzmann stood from the massage chair.

"Hm?" Kevin bit a doughnut he brought in with him.

"What?" Abby looked up from her computer.

"What is it?" Tolan asked.

"The ghost pagers should be done today." She did a fist bump in the air. "Woooo!"

"Good." Yates nodded. "And we should talk about starting a night shift."

"I agree." Patricia opened one of her nonfiction novels. "We gotta ask the mayor's office for some beds or some pullout couches or somethin.'"

"Ooooo! Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Jill did a little dance.

"What?" The former MTA employee looked up from her book. The idiosyncratic weirdo stood with her side facing Tolan. She bent her knees as if lunging and put her arms out in front of her, dramatically gesturing to the massage chairs. "What are you doin?'"

The blonde didn't move from her position as she answered. "The chairs."

"Yes?" Patty looked to Abby as if wondering if she knew what she was attempting to say. When it looked like Yates was just as clueless, she turned to Erin, hoping she'd understand her better. However, Erin seemed to have not been listening to this part of the conversation as she was looking at some physics equations in one of her notebooks.

Holtzy rocked back and forth on her feet with a grin before finally realizing they weren't following along. She let her hands drop in disappointment. "We can sleep in the comfy Kevin chairs until we get some beds." She stood up straight hoping they'd agree.

"Ohhh!" Patty nodded.

"I like that." Abigail pointed to Jill before pushing her glasses up.

"Actually not a bad idea." Tolan smirked and looked over to see if Gilbert had finally begun to pay attention. Nothing.

"Hey, Erin? What do you think?" Her high school best friend asked.

"Huh?" Erin looked over to Abs. "What?"

"What do you think about sleeping in the massage chairs for a night shift until we get some beds up in here?" Patricia summarized.

"The night shift thing WAS your idea." Holtzmann added.

"Oh, right. Yeah. Uh, sure. Sounds good." She faked a smile and continued to solve one of her equations.

Patty squinted at the woman and noticed Abby's brows furrow in slight confusion as well. "Well, anywayyyyyyy..." Holtzy grunted. "I'm heading up to work on my technological masterpieces." She turned and enthusiastically danced up the stairs, humming "Kiss" by Prince once again.

Tolan and Yates watched her before simultaneously looking over to the other half of the couple. They saw Erin trying to pretend that she didn't even noticed Holtzy's absence. The quick flickering of her eyes gave her away.

"Hey, Abby." Kevin stood by his desk.

"Yes?...Kevin?" For some reason, Abigail felt her neck growing warm and she briefly lost her breath when looking to the tall man.

"Would you like my other doughnut?" He offered with a smile.

"Um...not right now. No, thanks." She cleared her throat when he nodded. "Maybe later. I don't know. I mean, I do like a good doughnut. I'm just, uh...I'm not that hungry right now...at the moment." She bit one of her nails. "Thanks." She saw Patty grinning in the corner of her eye and decided to turn to Gilbert. "So, Erin..."

"Hm? What?" The antecedent scholar listened while writing.

"You okay?"

"What? Yeah, I'm good." She smiled at all three of the others in the room. "Why?"

"You seem to be, uh...giving Holtzy a cold shoulder." Yates looked to the darker woman as if asking for her confirmation.

"Do I?" She hardly resisted looking up from her notebook.

"Yes." The avid non-fiction reader admitted as well.

"Do you need a sweater?" Kevin asked, addressing the 'cold shoulder.'

"What's goin' on?" Patty continued to talk, trying her best to ignore the dimwit who had just sat down in his chair.

"I thought the date went well last night." Abby jumped in again.

"It did. It did." She nodded with a weak smile.

"So, what's up?" The African-American wondered.

"I-" She shrugged. "Nothing. I don't know. Maybe I'm just tired." She put the notebook and pencil down. "I didn't get home till almost two o'clock in the morning."

"Maybe you should take a nap in one of the massage chairs." Kevin suggested, taking another bite of his own doughnut.

"No. It's okay. I probably just need to drink some more of my coffee." She rubbed her forehead before reaching for the Starbuck's cup across her desk. She took a long, burning gulp as she disregarded the small looks of estrangement she was receiving from both Abby and Patty.


	35. No Use Crying Over Spilled Coffee

The scalding, creamy liquid of Erin's Latte Macchiato slid down her throat with ease and she ignored the warm temperature as she knew she needed a large gulp of it to try and keep her tired eyes open. After taking the cup away from her lips, she looked down at it with a slight grin as she favored the taste. Clearing her throat, she began to feel the pain on her now burnt tongue, but she brushed it off, about to take another sip. "Hey Abby, that shirt looks really good on you." The deep, Australian accent caused Dr. Gilbert to gasp just enough while swallowing her drink to send her into a small choking fit. All eyes turned to the particle physicist and she tried to stop her coughing. 

"Uh, thank you, Kevin. Erin, are you alright?" Abby focused on her best friend, hoping she could avoid looking at the only man in the room for the time-being after his compliment. Her high school acquaintance nodded while her eyes watered and a few more coughs escaped her throat as she tried to force out words, but failed. 

"Do you need a drink?" Kevin wondered from his desk.

Shaking her head no, Erin was able to force out one last violent hack before pushing out a smile and giving them a thumbs up. She cleared her pained throat and was finally able to hoarsely speak. "I'm good. I'm good." She cleared her throat once more.

"You sure?" Yates watched her move the coffee cup as if getting ready to place it back on the table in front of her.

With one more insecure nod, Gilbert turned her gaze to Kevin, feeling her own cheeks grow red for he and Abby. In her moment of watching Beckman watch Yates, she was unaware of the position of the cup in her suddenly shaky hand. It was too low to surpass the edge of the desk and the bottom of it collided with the table, knocking the hot drink out of her hand. Both Patty and Abby stood upon the event and exclaimed quite dramatically before asking the brunette if she was okay. Kevin soon stood as well and headed to the bathroom for paper towels. 

Abigail joined her friend at her desk and she helped her step around the mess on the floor. "Are you okay? That must've been scorching hot." Abby asked, still holding Erin's hand by the desk.

"Yeah." Gilbert responded with a disappointed tone, looking down at her ruined gray skirt. "I'm just glad it landed on the floor and not all over my papers." She nervously laughed before looking over her shoulder to see Kevin returning with a roll of toilet paper instead of paper towels. She let her head fall to the side, baffled at the receptionist. 

"You sure you didn't get burned?" Abby frantically asked when she took the roll from Kevin and bent over, beginning to clean up the large puddle on the floor. 

"Yeah." Sighing with a slight eye roll, Erin bit her cheek before speaking again. "If it isn't slime it's coffee, right?" She began to shake her skirt to try and cool off her honestly burning thighs.

"Wait a minute." Abby spoke, picking up the empty cup and setting it back on Erin's desk. "I thought you didn't like Starbuck's because they were in competition with Dunkin' Donuts?" She continued to try and soak up the drink.

"Yeah, well...I guess I'd try something new for once." Gilbert admitted, feeling the burns on her legs slowly getting better. "Clearly, I'm not allowed to try new things." She said with hostility, more to herself than to anyone else.

Patty had gone to the bathroom for real paper towels before returning to help clean up the floor. She patted Gilbert on the back when she approached the mess. "You go on upstairs and change into somethin' else. We've got this."

"You sure?" The tired scholar asked with a hint of apologetic guilt in her tone.

"Yeah, yeah. We're good." Yates nodded while wiping the floor. 

At first, Erin stared down at them, tempted to forget about her clothes for now and just help out as well, but eventually, she obeyed Patricia and headed for the staircase. Abigail had grown annoyed with the thin toilet paper and she picked up the wad of highly absorbent tissue, soaked with macchiato, before setting it down beside her. She sat up on her knees and took the paper towel roll from Patty who had finally looked away from Erin and began to help out as well. Yates bent back over to wipe up some of the spill but she stopped, noticing her face was inches from Kevin's. Tolan watched them look into each other's eyes for a moment before awkwardly giggling or clearing their throats and returning their focus back to cleaning up the mess.

Exhaustion was really beginning to catch up to the particle physicist, especially after walking all the way up to the second floor. When she reached her locker, she yawned, wishing she hadn't had such a hard time sleeping after the date. When she left Holtzmann alone on the sidewalk, her grin had become permanent the whole cab ride home. Upon entering her apartment, she was greeted by Abby's eight-legged 'friend,' whom had made its way to the bottom of the wall in the hallway near her bedroom. Normally, she would've hugged herself and, with strong fear, had run passed it and into her bedroom, possibly to never come out again. But, something had given her confidence after the night she'd had and she took it upon herself to crush the little guy with one of her beige heels. Though she was never as terrified of the little pests as Abby was, she certainly never went close enough to one to be able to kill it. 

After confidently walking into her bedroom prior to that, she chuckled at herself thinking, 'there's a first time for everything' and remembering that her newfound relationship with Holtzmann was another example of that true and popular aphorism. All she could think about for the rest of the night was wanting to kiss the inventor again. She lay awake, smiling up at the ceiling and wondering how today would go. 

It was not going as she planned already and she yawned again, finally opening her locker. Looking down at herself, she noticed a small splash of latte had also ended up on her business jacket. Softly groaning, she reached for the buttons on the long sleeved top. 

Only being able to unbutton the first two, Gilbert jumped when she heard Holtz from behind her. "You alright?" The kooky, petite woman asked.

Immediately catching her breath, Erin turned around to face Holtzy and she frustratedly gestured to her outfit. "I spilled my coffee." Jill looked down at the stained clothes with no change of expression and Erin continued to communicate her emotions. "Which really ticks me off, because I needed the caffeine to stay awake today." She let her left hand move to hold her forehead and closed her eyes, missing her bed at the moment.

It was silent as Jillian watched her attempt to keep it together. The taller of the two began to rub her eyes with her thumb and pointer finger and it took all of Holtzy's might not to take her hand down and start kissing her then and there. "Hey, Erin...Erin." 

Gilbert bitterly let her hand fall and she looked to Holtz with a bit of irritation. "What?" 

"Um..." The blonde cleared her throat, looking into the open locker passed Erin, then back up to the other scientist. "Change your clothes, then come to my lab."

"What?" She harshly asked.

"Just...trust me, alright?" She quickly looked to the stairs, hoping no one could hear. "I'll tell you after you change." That was the only explanation Erin received from the smaller woman and she turned, heading back into her lab area. 

Still uncomfortably wet, covered in, now oddly cool, coffee, Dr. Gilbert forced herself not to cry as the blonde walked away. She knew she was being cruel to her today and normally, she would've blamed it on the lack of sleep or spilling of the coffee, but she knew better and she was well aware of the real reason for her hostility toward Holtzmann. 

Feeling the climbing lump in her throat, she took a deep breath and turned to grab a new pair of clothes from her locker.


	36. Hidden

In a pair of light blue jeans and a maroon hoodie that was slightly large on her, Erin finished closing her locker and headed for Jillian's laboratory. She yawned once again upon entering the room and blinked a few times to keep her eyes open. Looking over at the engineer's desk, she saw her with massive rubber gloves on, working on one of the ghost pagers. "Oh." Holtzmann finally noticed the presence of the other woman and she set down her tools before oddly walking over to Gilbert.

"What is it you had to tell me?" 

The blonde slapped her gloved hands together before pulling the large pair off one by one. "Follow me." She turned, leading Erin further into the back of the lab. 

Rolling her eyes, the other woman hesitated to adhere to the blonde's request, but eventually gave in. She was too tired to see any of Jill's new inventions at the moment. Her constant enthusiasm toward the wacky scientist's toys would be deemed unsuccessful in such an exhausted state. But she followed her anyway and wished it was something easy to fake excitement about. 

They made it to the far end of the lab, closest to the large windows and Erin just now realized she'd never been back here before. Usually because Holtzy wouldn't let anyone passed the ghost containment unit. She claimed it was due to the possibility of being overexposed to too much radiation. Soon, Gilbert would find out the truth.

They turned right, leading them to the very back corner of the lab, which was a surprise to Erin as it was blocked from the sight of anyone in any other part of the room. She watched Jillian with confusion before her leader stopped in her tracks, causing her to halt as well. She turned her gaze to where Holtz was looking and now she understood. They stared down at a small sized couch that contained a disheveled blanket and pillow. "You should get some rest." Jill spoke and turned to leave, still holding the rubber gloves in one of her hands.

"Wait a minute." Gilbert grabbed her by the arm, stopping her from leaving. "What is this?" She wondered aloud before quickly releasing the other woman from her grip.

"Nothing, I just....sometimes I need a nap after a lot of brainstorming or I just really don't wanna go home." She pointed to the sofa. "So, I moved this in here from the sleep hall over there." She pointed out the door to the large room by their lockers. 

"Oh, wow. I didn't even know this was in there." 

"Nobody did. I moved it when we first moved here and kept it hidden so you guys wouldn't think I was sleeping on the job." Holtz stood with her arms crossed over her chest and she stared down at the couch, remembering the first week there. Erin nodded, remembering as well. Jillian wouldn't let anyone upstairs until she finished putting all of her equipment exactly where she needed it. "You take a nap, I'm gonna finish my babies." Holtz turned and left Gilbert in the far corner of the room. 

Taking a deep breath, Erin decided to obey her and she immediately moved closer to the sofa and laid down on her stomach. She hugged the pillow to her head with a light grin, not even bothering with the blanket, and in no time, she was out.

About an hour and fifteen minutes passed and the brunette slowly opened her eyes. She was shocked to find that she hadn't changed positions while asleep. This confirmed how tired she really was and she blinked her eyes open a bit more before turning over to lay on her side for a moment. As she did so, she felt the blanket on her and stopped moving in the realization that Jill had covered her at some point. She sighed, recalling her crude behavior toward the woman today. She then hugged the blanket to her chest before nuzzling her face in the fabric. A loud puff of air escaped her mouth before she uncovered her face and slowly sat up. She took a deep breath and stretched, looking around the dark section of the lab and wondering how long she'd slept for. 

As she removed the blanket from her lap, she thought of the reason she had awoken in the first place. A nightmare. She had had another nightmare. Though this time, it was of being kidnapped and tortured again. Only, for real this time and Abby was the one taken and she, along with Holtz and Patty, had to search for Yates only to find it was too late. Gilbert had to regroup before attempting to stand. She didn't know what she'd do if she ever lost Abigail. Just those few years of not talking after they had their falling out had really been too painful. What would she do without the possibility of just talking to her protective companion ever again? Not wanting to think about it anymore, she pushed herself up off the couch and walked around the beam that hid the corner. 

She stopped in her tracks when she watched Holtzmann work. The concentration and pure focus from the blonde had always seemed to fascinate Erin. The action of her habit returned and she began to bite her bottom lip while she gazed at the engineer. Instead of walking around the ghost containment unit like she had planned, she leaned against the beam to her left and rested her head on it, watching Holtzy's every move. 

"I'm glad you're up." Jill said without even looking away from the gadget in her hand. 

The brunette moved away from the wall and walked closer to the center of the lab. "How'd you know?" 

"You stopped snoring." The inventor pushed her glasses up to her forehead before setting the technology down and looking up to the other woman. 

Erin chuckled. "I don't snore." 

"Oh." Holtz nodded. "Yes, you do. It's not loud, but you do." 

"Oh." She felt herself blushing and she looked down to the floor in embarrassment, now knowing that Abby was right at all their sleepovers in high school.

"But, hey! Now I can finally show everyone the finished results of my ghost-uh-pagers." She did a small dance. 

"You finished them?" Erin asked.

"Oh, yeah. I finished them a long time ago." The shorter of the two picked up one of the beepers and pretended to shake it by her ear like a small hand maraca. It took all of her might while the particle physicist slept not to whoop with joy the minute she was done and it took even more for her to not go downstairs and brag about the devices to the other three. "I was waiting for you to wake up." She stopped shaking the one she held and placed it back on the table near the others. 

Knowing the woman's excitement, Erin asked, "Why didn't you just wake me up?"

Holtzmann's smile slowly disappeared into a shy look of slight embarrassment. Looking at the desk in between them, she replied. "You look so peaceful when you're sleeping." 

Unsure of how to respond, Gilbert just leaned against the table, eventually looking down as well. She pictured Holtzy standing near the couch in the corner, looking down at her while she slept. Though the concept seemed a bit creepy, Erin couldn't help but smirk, knowing how sweet it actually was. "Well, uh...I'm up NOW. Let's go show them. Can I-?" She mimed to reach for them, asking Holtz's permission to touch and when the blonde nodded, she took two. Jill grabbed the other two and they headed for the first floor.


	37. Communication

Holtzmann had finished her descriptions showing off the ghost pagers to everyone present before handing each of the females in the building their own beeper. "There. Now if any of us are out for lunch or gone gallivanting through the city for some reason and we get a call....BOOM!" She loudly clapped. "We'll all know about it."

"Well, uh...not me." Kevin raised his pencil in the air, pointing out that he didn't have one.

The blonde looked over her shoulder at the receptionist behind her. "That's because I may have something else planned for you, my dear Kev." 

"Oh." The man smiled. "Is it something cooler?" He basically tried to wink, but failed.

"Uh, yes." She lied. "Something much, much cooler."

"Awesome." He bit the center of his pencil. "What is it?"

"It's a surprise." She faked a grin before turning to look back at Abby, Patty, and Erin fussing with their pagers. 

"Nice work, Jillian." Yates nodded, clipping the device to her pants. 

"Yeah. Great job!" Patty gave her an encouraging touch on the arm before heading back to her desk to finish reading a book on all the first manufacturing companies of New York City. 

"I'm impressed, Holtz Machine....As always." Abby also returned to the chair behind her desk.

"Thanks, Abster." Holtzmann placed her ghost pager inside her pants pocket. She didn't even hesitate to walk over to the lined up massage chairs and sat down in the farthest one from the group. Putting the feet up and leaning the head back just a bit, she closed her eyes, loving the fact that she could relax now. Normally she would move on right to the next project, but for some reason she felt that she didn't need to and she told herself that for the rest of today, she would just chill. Once she felt the total sense of relaxation, she let out one of her loud groans with a smile.

"So, what were you doing up there for over an hour?" Abigail quietly asked Erin while she typed and the particle physicist stood by her desk with her arms folded across her chest. Yates teased her. "Were you up there smooching?" A small chuckle escaped the woman's lips.

"No." Gilbert's arms unfolded and she fixed her posture a bit, feeling annoyed at everything today. "I was just-" Suddenly she remembered that Holtzmann's sofa was supposed to be kept a secret and she attempted to lie. "We were talking, that's all. And I took a shower after the coffee incident."

"So, which is it? Were you talking or did you take a shower?" 

"Both." Erin raised her eyebrows.

"Really? You take pretty long showers." Yates continued to pester her long time friend. "If you did take a shower, you probably wouldn't have gotten out until about fifteen minutes ago or so. Your hair would still be wet." She never stopped typing. "What were you two love birds really doing?"

"Nothing!" She snapped. "Alright?! We weren't doing anything." Everyone in the room, beside Holtzy, turned to look at Erin. "And would you please stop calling us love birds?" Jillian's eyes opened and she slowly lifted her head, turning to look at the bunch. 

Kevin's pencil was in between his teeth and his hand was midair as if he were about to remove the utensil from his mouth just before Erin snapped. Patricia's eyes were wide and looking just over the book she was reading as she held it up over her nose, wishing the others could not tell she was looking at the annoyed physicist. Abby sat at her desk, looking up at the woman in front of it with her mouth slightly open and her hands stopped mid-sentence on her keyboard.

"Erin?" Holtzy broke the awkward silence and oddly enough, the only one to look to the blonde was Dr. Gilbert. 

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Embarrassed by her sudden outburst, she uncomfortably looked around at the other ghostbusters who finally averted their eyes from her. Each continued with what they were doing and pretended nothing had happened. Feeling the warmth in her cheeks, Gilbert tried to speak. "I just...I need a min-" Before even finishing her sentence, the heated woman ran up the stairs as fast as possible. 

Jill had begun to put the feet of the chair back down just before Gilbert had run away and once she had reached the top floor, Holtzy stood. Feeling embarrassed herself, she bit the inside of her cheek when looking to Abigail for advice. Unfortunately, Yates slightly shrugged her shoulders and went back to focusing on her computer screen. Holtz turned her gaze to Patty who had a hard time keeping her brown eyes on the book in front of her. When Tolan shook her head no, Jill slouched even more than she already was and she hated the confusion that buzzed throughout her head. She was used to having a solution to a problem and even if she hadn't, which was very rare, someone else in the room did. But not this time. She would've looked to Kevin, but she knew he wouldn't be much help, especially when he was the first one to speak after Erin had left. "Did she say she needed a mint?" The imbecile wondered aloud, causing a groan to come from both Patty and Holtzy.

"No, honey. She said she needed a minute." Abby instantly looked down at her keyboard the moment she realized she called him 'honey' and Tolan accidentally dropped the book, with a loud slam, onto her desk. 

"Oh. Okay." Kevin didn't seem to catch it as he began to doodle some cartoon characters on the paper in front of him. 

Ignoring all instincts to stay downstairs and give Gilbert some space, Holtzmann left the group of her disoriented colleagues and ascended the staircase to the second floor. She looked around, unable to find her, and it occurred to her that she might be back in her secret corner. But when she looked back there, it was empty.

After walking around the large beam, she grinned at the staircase behind it. Doing the running man in place, Jillian now knew where her date from the night before must be. She finished the silly dance move and headed up to the roof of the former fire station.

The blonde was satisfied when she saw Erin standing by the edge of the building, looking out at the city. She slowly walked over to stand beside her, leaning her elbows against the ledge. Turning her head to the woman on her left, Jill admired every feature on her face. The way her lashes moved with every blink, they way her eyes sparkled with the reflection of the morning sun. The brunette's adorable button nose caused Jillian to scrunch her own with adoration before she carefully examined the scholar's soft cheek bones that led to her naturally pink lips. 

The inventor snapped herself out of her daze, remembering the reason for being up here with her in the first place. She opened her mouth, about to ask Erin if she was upset with her when the other woman spoke instead. "No."

"No?" Holtzy replied.

"No." Gilbert closed her eyes, softly continuing with a hint of sadness in her tone. "I'm NOT mad at you." She hated being a person who kept things bottled up. Abby had tried to break her out of the habit for years, but it never really worked. "I'm just..." She turned so her body was facing Holtzmann and the shorter woman copied the action. "I get very nervous in relationships. Especially when I start to really really like the other person and after last night, you know, the um..." She blushed with an anxious smile, referring to the kiss before heading home. Holtz nodded with an intense look as she listened carefully. "I realized how much I-" Erin looked down at her fidgeting hands while biting the side of her bottom lip. Deciding to not finish her statement, she looked back into Jill's sea blue eyes. "I would love to go on a second date. I mean, that is...if you want to." She sighed, turning back to face the city. "You probably don't NOW."

"No, Erin..." Holtzy touched her shoulder and Gilbert looked down at the contact. "I want to." 

They maintained eye contact for awhile before Erin spoke again. "Really?" 

A bit uncomfortable in such a serious situation, Holtzmann responded with a lighter tone. "With you? Are you kidding? Of course!" She finally let go of the physicist's shoulder and looked out at the city as well, leaning against the ledge yet again. "You're one of my best and only friends. You're smart and you make me nervous, but in a good way. And you're really pretty." She playfully clicked her tongue. "I'd have to be bonkers not to go on another date with you."

"For real? You really mean that?" Gilbert stared down at the blonde in front of her.

"Absolutely!" Jill turned so her body faced the other woman again, but she leaned even further onto her elbow on the ledge so she was looking up at Erin from a slanted angle. 

The brunette tried to hide her smirk as she looked down at the street beside her. Unaware of what to say, she just looked out and enjoyed the weather. Taking in a deep breath, she told herself she wouldn't bring it up...but her mouth got the best of her, as it often did. She looked to the woman on her right and asked, "You took Abby to Extreme Indoor Competitive Sports?"

Jill awkwardly turned to face the ledge again, still leaning her stomach on it. She gulped before answering. "I did. Yes."

"I, um..." Former Ghost Girl uncomfortably giggled before letting curiosity kill the cat. "...what's that about?" 

"Huh?" Holtz tried to hide the weird glance at Erin through the side of her eye, but the taller woman caught it.

"Abster? Holtz Machine?" Both of them faced their bodies toward each other now and Erin shrugged, waiting for a response. When she didn't get one, she nodded. "Right? So you and my best friend?"

"It was nothing like that, it was just a little bit of crushing. Never even got too serious." Holtz took her yellow glasses off for a moment to clean them on her shirt, but she immediately returned them over her eyes. 

The particle physicist squinted at the shorter woman with pursed lips before looking back out at the view. "I just can't believe she hasn't told me."

"She didn't..." Jill's eyes awkwardly flicked to the right before looking back to the side of Gilbert's face. "...exactly know." 

Quickly turning with a hand on her right hip, Erin replied. "Oh, so it was just you?" 

"Yes. I swear." She pulled a chunk of her own hair before continuing. "She was going through some stuff at the time as well. So...timing was another factor." Seeing the woman in front of her looking down at her own nails while she was speaking, caused Jill to add onto that. "Also, I never liked her as much as I like you, soooo..." She looked down and to her right again, hoping Erin would feel a little better. 

"Hm..." The brunette rested her elbows on the ledge, turning away from the engineer once again. "Glad to see her and Kevin noticing each other a bit more." The tone in her voice had finally lightened up a bit.

"Yeah." Holtz turned her body as well. "Although, it might take some time for them."

"You think so? I have a feeling they could be dating by this time within the next couple weeks or so." She stared at a speck of an airplane flying thousands of miles away.

"It'll be a while before Abby's ready." Keeping her overworked hands on the bricks in front of her, Holtzy pushed against the wall and stretched her right foot way out behind her. Lunging, she looked down at the blacktop below her and switched feet, stretching out her other calf, her arms straight out in front of her on the sill of the building. 

"Oh, I think she's ready." Erin chuckled. "I'm pretty sure her last boyfriend was one of our ghost puppets back in high school. She's ready."

Jillian stood up and cracked her fingers while she responded. "Hm...we'll see."

"I've known her for a while. And trust me, when she finally gets asked out, she will not hesitate to say yes." Gilbert argued. 

"Mmm..." Holtz briefly tilted her head to the side with squinted eyes. "There's some things you don't know about Abigail." 

"I'm pretty sure I know my best friend." 

Before either of them could speak again, their pagers went off in their pockets and they looked to each other, taking them out. They read the address before heading back inside to go to their next bust.


	38. Paradox

"Hey, Abs. You alright?" Holtzmann asked the paranormal researcher as all four ghostbusters slowly walked down the hall on the seventh floor of the apartment building for their next bust. 

"Yes, I'm fine." The shortest of the bunch mumbled to the blonde who walked just slightly behind her on her left.

"Why do you keep asking her that?" Erin wondered from the left of Jillian. She was ignored, so she turned her attention to her best friend. "Abby, why does she keep asking you that?" Still...no answer. "ARE you okay?" 

"I am fine. Can we please just focus?" 

Suddenly, they all stopped when they heard a crash. All four of them exchanged looks before reaching behind them to grab their proton packs. They headed further down the hall, splitting up when they reached the end of it. Patty and Abby turned right while Erin and Jillian turned left. Little did the engineer know that Erin was watching her the entire time they walked.

"What's going on?" She barely gave the other woman enough time to reply. "I don't like it when people keep things from me. Especially people who are supposed to be close to me." 

"Erin." Holtz never looked at the woman beside her. 

"I'm serious....Did I do something wrong?" Gilbert wondered with a slight panic.

"No, no. It's just...It's not for me to tell."

"Who then? Abby? What is it she has to tell me?"

Holtz stopped near a set of elevators when they reached a dead end. "I just said it's not for me to tell." She turned and headed back the way they came.

"Right." Erin mumbled to herself before turning and following Jill.

They made it back to where they had turned and went straight, making their way closer to Patty and Abby. Erin watched Jill again and she swore she saw her swallowing hard at one point, but she brushed it off and told herself to focus. They reached Patty and Abby and both pairs asked each other if they saw anything. They all responded at once and headed further down the hall. Meanwhile, the new PKE meter in Abigail's hand lit up and began to spin faster and faster the more steps they took. Ahead of the group, she inhaled sharply, realizing which hall they were in. 

Third in line, Jillian spoke. "Abby."

"I'm okay." Yates lied to the group behind her. She continued to walk and stopped, turning to face one of the apartment doors, the meter going insane in her shaking hand. When she looked up at the number on the door, she closed her eyes as they stung with tears. She blew soft air out of her mouth before reopening them and attempting to shut off the PKE meter. Her thumb missed the button and she struggled to hit it once again. "This...stupid thing won't turn off!" She slightly shook it and all three other ladies looked down at the device in her hand.

Holtzmann slowly stepped passed Patricia and took the meter out of Abby's hand, shutting it off herself. "Why don't you wait downstairs?" 

"No, I'm fine!" Yates snapped and she put one of the keys the building manager had lent them in the door. When it didn't work, she tried a couple others before studying them and choosing the right one. The door opened and she walked in immediately. Jillian followed and Patty and Erin gave each other strange looks before heading in as well.

When the last three ghostbusters entered the apartment, they stopped as they saw Abigail frozen, looking around the living room that led into the kitchen on the right. She took a deep breath with closed eyes and a clenched fist. Patty and Erin walked a little further into the room, looking around for an apparition and Holtzmann stood beside Abby, watching her attempt to keep it together. 

After a few more deep inhales, Yates finally spoke to the blonde beside her with a short nod. "Okay. Let's go." 

Jillian wanted to ask her if she was sure, but she hadn't time when the black-haired woman followed Erin and Patricia further into the flat. Erin continued to look over at her former classmate and when she noticed she had begun to walk around again, Gilbert started to hang back a bit to move closer to Jillian. She whispered when they were inches apart. "Is she okay?"

Holtzmann never answered. Anger was beginning to find its way into Erin's current mood as she hated not being the one who knew what was going on with Abby, like she usually was.

"Man, I have a weird feeling." Tolan said as she walked down the hallway that headed into one of the bedrooms. 

Abby looked up at the taller woman. "So do I." She took a moment to look back at Jill and trusted her own instincts, which told her to call for the ghost. "Riley?" 

Patty instantly turned around to look at the woman in shock of her pulling out a name. She looked up to Jill and Erin behind Abby and mouthed the word, 'Riley?' Erin shrugged and Holtz continued to move her eyes around the room.

"Riles?" Yates said a bit softer.

All four of their heads turned when they heard something move aggressively in the living room. The couch moved abruptly, making the same noise and Patty swallowed hard, sort of hating her job at the moment. "Stop playin!'" She tightened her grip on her proton cannon. 

The couch moved once more and a transparent being, the size of a child, appeared from behind it, running out of the apartment while giggling. "What was that?" Holtzy asked, looking to Abby, who shrugged.

"That was just a kid." Gilbert stated, her gaze still on the door.

"We better go get it." Tolan suggested. "I don't think we need an evil child roaming the halls."

Patty, Erin, and Jillian headed for the door but stopped when Abigail held them up. "Wait! Look." They obeyed and followed her gaze, which was on Jill's lower back. Holtzmann reached around herself, pulling the PKE meter off of her belt in the back. Holding it in her hand, her eyes widened at the sudden wave of activity that hit the device, causing it to vibrate violently. 

It wasn't long before the engineer immediately dropped the tool to the floor with a wince of pain. "Ah!" She clapped her hands before rubbing them together. "That was...not hot...at all." She purposefully contradicted the truth with a dramatic twist. After shaking her burning hand in the air, she bit one of her knuckles, trying to stop herself from swearing. The pain slowly subsided and suddenly, three more ghost children ran out from behind the sofa, heading for the exit. One phased through the wall, knowing she didn't need the door.

"What is going on?" Erin asked, still looking to Holtz to see if she was okay.

The PKE meter continued to go berzerk on the floor. "I don't like this. I don't like this at all." Patty exclaimed, taking a few steps back. 

"Was one of those kids Riley?" Erin asked with an annoyed tone.

Abby and Jill looked at each other before Yates answered. "No. Riley's-"

"Hello, Bee. I've missed you." A soft, tender voice surrounded them from all sides, yet they saw no one. "Holtzy, lookin' good as always."

"Smiley Riley, what are you doing torturing the poor people who live in this building?" Holtzmann spoke, looking around as if she would see the apparition if she did. 

"If I were you, I wouldn't be worrying about the people in this building." The voice, though suggested threat, did not sound threatening in the slightest.

"Oh, yeah? Then who SHOULD we be worrying about?" The female with yellow lensed glasses wondered. 

"Everyone! It's time they paid."

"It's time who paid?" Gilbert asked, looking up as well just before looking back and forth between Holtz and Abby.

"Did you not hear me? I said everyone. The crooks, the criminals, the liars, the frauds. Everyone."

"Ooohhhh no." Patricia softly panicked when they were suddenly surrounded by ghosts of all shapes and sizes. 

"These are the spirits of people who have been wronged by the living and want to do something about it." 

"Rye Bread, you can't punish EVERYONE. It's not everyone's-"

"SURE IT IS!" Holtzmann was interrupted with a loud yell from the apparition who still refused to show themselves. "There are no good people in your world. If there were, the good would stop the bad."

"My dear Riley, it's not that simple." Jillian tried to convince them.

"I know." The voice replied with a sad tone. "And that's why....we must destroy them all." 

And with that, every ghost in the apartment destructively flew about the room, knocking over shelves and picture frames and even, all four ghostbusters.


	39. Till Death

Seconds after the women were knocked to the ground, every ghost left the apartment building in all different directions. Some went through the floor, some went through the roof, some went left, some right, a few went through the wall out to the hallway. Others went through walls to the next door neighbors' apartments. And plenty went out the windows out into the city, to wreak havoc on New York. Patty helped Abby stand up as Erin helped Holtzy up. "What the hell was that?" Tolan asked. 

"Riley!" Abby yelled, looking around the apartment. "Don't do this! Please, there are so many innocent people. Don't punish them for what others have done!" 

"They need to pay for what they did to us, Abby." All of the living females of the room turned to see the apparition floating inches behind Abigail. 

It was silent. There was nothing but staring and breathing. Abby's right hand slowly reached up, needing to touch him. But it went through the ghost and his eyes closed. Yates sighed and disappointedly brought her hand down. "Revenge won't solve anything. It won't bring you back."

When Riley responded, he sounded as if he were letting out a sob. "I know." He let his head fall in sadness. "But I just miss you so much."

Even though she knew she couldn't touch him, her hand reached up anyways, motioning to lift his chin. And it worked. He looked into her forest green eyes and she stared back into ghostly ones. "I know you do. But you have to move on. It's almost been two years. My life has changed and I've had to move on without you. You need to as well."

"Well, it may have been two years for you, but for me it was just yesterday. Time is different in the spirit realm. It moves slower and I can't move on knowing those bastards got away with it...got away with separating us."

"You're gonna have to." A tear fell down Abby's cheek just before Riley snapped again, floating away from her.

"NO!" With that...he was gone. 

It was silent besides the short whimper of agony that escaped Abby's lips and the screams they began to hear from around the building and out on the streets. Yates didn't move from her spot as she let two more tears fall before anxiously wiping them away. 

"I don't understand." Erin spoke. "What just happened?"

"That was Riley." Holtz nodded her head up and spoke as if introducing Erin and Patty to her deceased friend. "He was Abby's-"

"My fiance." Abigail whispered, finally finding the ability to move again, turning to face the other three.

"Your what?!" Gilbert's eyes widened and she moved her gaze back and forth from Holtzy to Abby in shock. 

"Whoa." Patty didn't know what to say.

"How come I never knew about this?" Erin felt extremely left out and betrayed not knowing her best friend was ever even engaged. She looked to Jillian when Abby didn't answer, hoping her girlfriend would at least let her know. 

Before anyone could speak, however, they heard more screams and crashing coming from everywhere around them. "I'm sorry, guys. But we don't have time right now." Patricia stated, still holding her proton cannon pretty tightly. "We've got a city to save at the moment. And THEN we can catch up."

"She's right." Yates agreed and she sniffled. "Let's go!" She headed for the door, followed by Patty.

Holtz tried to run out, but Erin grabbed her arm and stopped her. She was going to say something, but she changed her mind, sending her a sad look before sliding her hand down the blonde's arm to gently squeeze her hand. And they left.

After busting approximately eleven of the ghosts in the building, Patty stood up from her dive roll, right beside Abigail. "Okay, I know this must be hard for you and I gotta say, I'm sorry for your loss and e'rthing. But your man is crazy." She turned her head and shot at another apparition. 

"Holtzy, look out!" Yates yelled and Jillian ducked while Abby shot at the ghost behind the inventor.

Patty walked over to Erin, who was lying on the ground after being picked up and dropped from the ceiling by one of the ghosts. Tolan reached down and grabbed Gilbert's forearm, pulling her up and patting her on the back. "Where'd the rest go?" The particle physicist asked after stretching out a sore leg. 

The four of them looked around for a moment before Erin felt Patricia squeezing her arm to get her attention. "Oh, hell no!" Erin looked to the taller woman who pointed toward one of the walls, revealing the four ghost kids from earlier phasing through it. "Uh, guys." She called to Jillian and Abby from the other side of the room. "We've got visitors." Holtzy and Abby looked before getting in ready position. "Come on, you children of the corn!" Tolan yelled at the laughing kids. "Come on!" 

The child across from Patty used its telekinesis to pick up a chair and throw it directly at Tolan, who ducked just on time. The moment she sat up on one knee, she aimed her cannon at the spirit, pulling the trigger but just missing when he flew to the side. After doing so, he brought himself face to face with the woman. Laughing, he let his, otherwise adorable, face turn to nothing but the look of a skeleton's and his voice got eerily deep while he continued to chuckle. "Oh, damn." The African American woman quietly exclaimed before standing. She towered over him and when he looked up at her height, she smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that's right! Now you know who you're messin' with." After a small chuckle from her own throat, they resumed fighting.

Meanwhile, Erin's ghost kept taunting her by disappearing and reappearing in several different places. "You really should be taught some manners." Gilbert said once the little girl floated behind Erin, tapping on her shoulder before disappearing. 

"Are you afraid, Ghost Girl?" The girl with pigtails asked in an annoying tone. 

"Hey, how did you even kn-Nevermind." With that, Gilbert saw her in the corner of her eye and she turned to try and shoot her, but missed when she vanished again. 

Jillian's little boy had resorted to name calling and Holtz didn't hesitate to respond with name calling herself. "Hah! You missed me, Four Eyes!" 

"Come back here and fight, Devil Child!"

"Make me, you big pile of stupid!"

Holtzmann shot at him. "Is that the best you've got, Slimewad?" 

"I don't know. Is it, you fluffy-haired twinkie?" 

"Ankle Biter!" Jill shot again and missed, but she took out her mini proton pistols to have better control over her aim.

"Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah! You can't catch me!" Abigail's little girl stuck her tongue out at the ghostbuster before using her ghost powers to supernaturally throw Abby against the wall behind her. 

"I'm sure your parents would be so disappointed in all of you!" Yates yelled when she hit the floor.

"I'm sure your parents would be so disappointed in all of you." The transparent child mocked in an unflattering voice as she approached Abby laying on the floor.

Looking up at the ghost, Abigail sneakily equipped her right hand with her knucklebuster. Once the apparition reached her, she punched up, powerfully zapping the child. When she flew backwards and disintegrated mid-air, the ghostbuster stood back up and continued to help her coworkers. 

Jillian was the next one to rid them of her ghost child and she headed over to help Patty when she recognized an action from Erin's ghost. "NOOOOOOO!" She screamed, jumping in front of the brunette, almost in slow-motion. She had jumped in front of her right on time to divert the ectoplasm that the little girl with pigtails had regurgitated from landing on Erin and she was slimed for the first time. 

Abby reached into Jillian's duffel bag, pulling out the ghost chipper and slid it over to Patty. Tolan grabbed it, pressing the 'on' button and the remaining little boy and little girl were sucked into the front, slime blowing out the back of the chipper and covering Erin. 

"Ooooo!" The tallest of the group spoke when she turned to see an unlucky, slime-covered Gilbert standing beside an excited, slime-covered Holtzmann. "I'm sorry." 

"Ugh!" Erin wiped the slime from her eyes. "Everytime!" 

"Well, hey. At least you weren't double-slimed. Thanks to Holtzy." Abby tried to make her feel better. 

Jillian happily played with the liquid in her fingers and gave Gilbert a pat on the back. "It's not that bad." 

"Speak for yourself." The physicist disagreed. "This is your first time."

"Welp, we can be ectoplasm buddies together." Holtz let out an obnoxious laugh before bending over to pick up the proton rifle Erin dropped upon being slimed. She handed it to her and they headed out.


	40. Not This Again

The wind blew passed the four women as they ran down the hall, heading for the elevators. There were two small trails of ectoplasm left on the carpet as the substance dripped from both Erin and Holtzy. As they ran by a few apartments, they heard the residents inside yelling about the commotion. As they made it to the end of the hallway, they took a left and Abby heard Riley's voice right behind her right ear. "We can finally get our revenge, Bee. You know you want to. Don't you miss me?" 

Continuing to run, she tried to ignore him, but spoke anyway. "Of course I miss you." She looked around at her colleagues, just now noticing that she was the only one who could hear him.

"Then come with me."

She wanted to ask where when they finally made it to the elevators, but a part of her felt he was no longer there. 

"What was that?" Patty asked her when the doors opened and they stepped in.

"What? Nothing." Yates looked up to her.

"I thought I heard you say somethin.'"

Abigail did not respond and the silver doors closed, taking them down to the first floor. They busted a few ghosts in the lobby before Erin yelled to the group. "We've gotta figure out a way to stop the rest of these ghosts!"

"They'll listen to Riley." Abby said before shooting the ghost of a colonial woman. "And I know where we can find him." She ran over to stand directly beside Erin.

"We can't just leave all these ghosts here." Gilbert pointed out.

"It'll work. Trust me." She shot at one more. "We don't have to go too far."

Erin shot one more as she tried to make a decision. Patty and Holtzy made their way over to them as well. "So, are we goin' or not?" Tolan wondered with the anticipation of more and more spirit appearances.

After sending one more apparition flying, Erin looked to Abby as she answered Patricia. "Let's go!" Putting full trust into her high school friend, she headed for the exit, as did the other three, while looking around at the citizens running out of the building.

They ran a couple blocks down the road, attacking a few more ghosts on the way. They made one last turn down an alley and Dr. Yates immediately slowed her pace upon approaching the eerie street. Erin, Patty, and Holtz continued to run further into the darkness as Abby lingered back a bit, looking around at the location of a painful memory. It wasn't too long before she was walking and soon her walk halted and she stood completely still, watching the other ghostbusters slow their own paces in front of her. 

A greenish, blue light began to grow down the alley way and soon, they were all still, staring and waiting for the rest of Riley's transparent, floating body to materialize. "I knew you'd come, Abby." He said, looking right passed the first three gals and into Abigail's eyes. 

"We're not here to help you, Lee. We're here to stop you." 

With no hesitation, the entity flew as quickly as possible passed Erin and Holtz, bringing himself face to face with the shortest of the women. Gilbert groaned in frustration at his passing through them adding onto the amount of slime that covered her and the blonde. Patty usually would've laughed at them, but she was very freaked out by the deceased man at the moment. "He didn't like that." She accidentally said aloud.

"What's the matter?" An unknown voice boomed in their ears. "Trouble in paradise?" 

"What's that?" Abby spoke as did Patty and Erin.

"Who's-?" Gilbert began.

"Whoa." Tolan exclaimed.

"Nice." Jillian grinned and nodded, looking around with the others. 

"I thought you said she'd help." The louder voice said.

"She will. Just give me a moment to convince them." Riley replied.

"Fine. But don't waste my time." The impatient, unseen being answered.

"We won't." He turned his attention back to his former fiancee, who continued to look up, wondering where that voice had stemmed from. "Bee, look at me." Yates obeyed, nervously swallowing. "We have a plan."

"Who's 'we?'" Abby demanded.

"That doesn't matter right now. Just do what we ask of you and you will be rewarded. All of you." He turned his head around to look at the other three and Patty and Erin stepped back. Meanwhile, Jill found it fascinating. 

"Rewarded with what?" Abby asked, causing him to look back to her.

"Anything you want! Untold riches, a house. TWO houses. Heck! You can have fifteen houses if you want." He smiled down at her.

"I don't want fifteen houses." She took a step back. "I just want peace in this world and you and your little friend are ruining that." 

"Riley!" The booming voice was heard again. "This is a waste! We can go on without her."

"But Zuul, please? Give me a chance to-"

"ENOUGH!" The ground shook and the girls all took cover until the quake ended. "We don't need them. They'll have to go with the others." Riley looked back down into Abby's eyes with sorrow in a moment of silence. "Riley!" Zuul's voice yelled once more.

"I'm sorry, Abby." Riley whispered before letting out an ear splitting screech like a banshee. The wail caused all four ghostbusters to plug their ears as they watched Riley's spirit vanish into thin air.

After he had left, it took a while before all women could unplug their ears. They looked around at each other, confused as to what just happened. "Zuul." Holtzmann spoke, flicking some slime off of her right hand. "Hey, wasn't that what you heard on the EVP a while ago, Patty?"

"Yoooo!" Tolan looked to Abby, then to Erin, then back to Jill. "It was." Her wide eyes found their way back to Abigail. "Didn't you say you'd do some research on that?"

"I did do SOME. I never looked too far into it though because we got side tracked with other things, but I...I remember it saying something about-" Suddenly, something happened to her. She froze. Her eyes shot open and her mouth clamped shut. Her posture changed and nothing happened for several seconds.

"Ab...Abby?" Erin took one step toward her best friend, but when her head snapped to look at the brunette, Holtzmann recognized it immediately and she touched her slimy hand to Erin's slimy shoulder, urging her to say away from Yates at the moment.

"Oh, not this again." Patty mumbled, taking a few steps away as well.

"I have to find Vinz Clortho." Abigail spoke in a tone they all recognized as Zuul's. 

"Who the hell is Vinz Clortho?" Tolan asked in annoyed tone. Instead of an answer, she received a telekinetically thrown garbage can at her and the other two, but they all ducked on time and looked up to see Abby hovering in the air for a moment before flying away.


	41. Save The Dates

"No, no! Abby!" Erin yelled as she watched her friend fly away with no knowledge of what they were up against. When she was gone, Gilbert was forced to wipe some more ectoplasm off her forehead before it would drip into her eye. "Oh, shoot!" She rubbed the slime in her hand, immediately turning to look at Holtzy for help, as if she'd know what to do.

The blonde stared at her for a moment, seeing the desperation and pleading in her woman's eyes. The longer they stared, the more uncomfortable Patty felt, but she looked at Holtzmann and noticed something she had only seen a couple times. It was the look the engineer had on her face whenever she was brainstorming and she could see a new idea cooking up in her head. Jillian could almost see the rising and falling of Gilbert's chest in the corner of her eye as they maintained eye contact and she watched her newfound girlfriend's eyes welling up with tears and filling with panic. Then it hit her. Holtzy clapped her gooey hands together with a smile, ignoring the fact that a few drops of ectoplasm had hit Patricia. "I got it!" She yelled before pointing at the both of them. "We've gotta get to the station." She ran passed the both of them and they turned, following her right away. "We've gotta hurry!" Holtz repeated the whole way to the Ecto-mobile in several different strange tones.

When they made it to the station, they ran inside, Tolan and Gilbert still unaware of what was running through Jill's mind. When they entered the building, Holtzmann ran right over to Abby's desk, signing into her computer.

"You know Abby's password?" Erin asked, staring at the woman in the chair in front of her.

Holtz ignored her as she continued to look for a specific date in Dr. Yates' files. "Abby keeps all of her research in a file according to the specific day it was recorded by her." She looked up at the ceiling, trying to recall the right time. "It was...it was when Patty heard Zuul on the EVP," she spoke to herself out loud, "...and that wasn't until after Abby's birthday which was-" As Jillian did the calculations in her head, Patty grabbed two towels, handing one to Erin and offering the other to the super-focused Jill. When the blonde hadn't noticed the gesture, Erin took the towel from Tolan and wiped the slime off of Holtzy for her while she thought. "Abby's birthday was about...mmmmm, three weeks after the one month-iversary of when we moved into this place. Soooo," she almost had it, Erin could tell, "...her birthday is-"

"September 23rd." Erin couldn't help but jump in.

"Patty heard Zuul on November fourth!" Holtzmann shouted with excitement before beginning to search for that date in Abby's files. When it finally popped up, they searched through everything and found nothing. They moved onto the next day and finally got what they needed.

"Hey, where's Kevin?" The particle physicist wondered, looking at the empty chair behind his desk. She gasped. "Oh, no! They didn't get him too. Did they?"

"Ay, Ghost Girl Paranoid." Patty started. "He over there takin' a nap." She pointed to the massage chairs, revealing the clueless hunk fast asleep in one, his lenseless glasses crooked on his face.

"Oh." The brunette awkwardly smiled, returning to cleaning as much slime as she could off of Holtzmann.

"Oh, boy!" The eccentric inventor spoke in an odd voice. 

"What is it?" Tolan wondered.

"Well, if this is true...our little Abster has been taken over by the Gatekeeper of Gozer." Holtz informed them.

"But that's Spanish for 'enjoy.' We shouldn't be too worried, right?" The former professor asked.

"Actually, no. That would be 'gozar,' but close." Patricia corrected. "What else does it say?"

Holtz continued to read aloud. "It says that 'with the help of the Keymaster, Gozer may return to Earth to rule as long as,' here it is, 'Zuul the Gatekeeper and Vinz Clortho the Keymaster possess two living humans to represent Gozer's minions.'"

"Oh....Yeah, that sounds bad." Erin uncomfortably scrunched her nose before putting her own towel to her slimy forehead.

"Well, how do we stop 'em?" Tolan asked with the hopes that there was a way.

"It says here that 'at the stroke of-'"

"Please don't say midnight." Patty shook her head, hating cliches.

"'3:15 in the morning...'"

"Oh, well that's a little better." 

"'...the day of Gozer's attempt, if neither the Gatekeeper nor the Keymaster have succeeded in their posessions nor meet at Gozer's Great Gates by the set time, then Gozer will return to the firey gates of Hell and cannot attempt again for several hundred years.'" Holtzy finally took the towel Erin had left on the desk for her and tried to clean herself, leaning back in Abby's chair. "Well, hey. We've just gotta make sure the Keymaster doesn't find anyone to possess or at least make sure he and Abby, or Zuul or whatever, don't find each other or meet at the meeting spot, which we have no clue where that could be, before 3:15 tomorrow morning and we should be golden." The quirky scientist boyishly nodded as she threw the towel back onto the desk and slouched in the chair, resting her elbows on the back of it. Her right foot rested up on the wooden table in front of her.

"Great. Sounds easy enough, right?" Erin asked both colleagues, de-sliming her neck.

"Sure." The African-American woman nodded with uncertainty. "Right. Oh and, uh...what do we do about the hundreds of ghosts that Abby's crazy fiance set off on the city?"

"Right." Jill awkwardly answered, dramatically emphasizing the 'T' in right. "I can deal with Riley as soon as we make sure Gozer for sure ain't coming back." She admitted. "I'm sure once his great, big plan to take over the world with a demigod falls through, he won't seem so bad and scary anymore." 

"You know this Riley guy pretty well, huh?" Dr. Gilbert wondered, walking around Abby's desk to look Jillian in the face as they spoke.

"Well, I know him enough." Holtzy replied.

Erin nodded, putting the towel on her head and rubbing it around, hoping it worked enough of the ectoplasm out of her hair. "What, uh...what happened?"

"I don't know if now is the time." Patricia tried to avoid Holtzy answering the question right now.

"Life happened." The blonde continued anyways. "Things were going well and boom! Something had to screw with it." She looked down at the pendant on the chain around her neck. Lifting it up, she resumed speaking. "That's why I wear this necklace. It's a bit 'screw you!' to life and all of its disappointments." Letting go of it, she went back to the main focus of the conversation. "Abby and Riley met in college just a short while after you two had your falling out. They were together longer than I even knew the Abster. That alley we were in tonight was where it all fell apart. They were walking home from the engagement party when a gang of misfits attempted to rob them. They cooperated and gave them their wallets, but...it wasn't enough. One of the men asked for Abby's engagement ring. They refused to give it up and enraged the leader of the group. When he approached Abs, Riley stepped in front to protect her. He had startled them when he moved so fast and one of the other members accidentally pulled the trigger. When they realized what happened, they all ran and Riley, well....clearly he didn't make it. They eventually found the gang and learned that they were all just a bunch of kids. The one who pulled the trigger was only fifteen, so she could not be charged as an adult and they deemed it an accident. Her punishment was minor and they were all let go." Holtzmann began to rock the chair from side to side. "Abby was devastated. They were almost the same person. He was just as intelligent in mathematics as she was in paranormal science. He had just gotten a job as an Accountant weeks before, Abby had been working with me for about a year or so. They were supposed to be together." She sighed before cracking a smile. "Their save the dates had this corny poem on it that had something like, ummm...'Riley and Abby, Lee is her honey and she is his Bee' or something like that." She laughed. "I can't remember but it was super cheesy. Normally I'm not a fan of things like that, but they...they were what I'd call a pretty nifty pair."

All the while Holtzy spoke about Abby and her former fiance, Patty's heart melted and broke all at once, but Erin?...Erin just grew furious.


	42. Gozer

The second Holtzmann finished telling her story, her foot slid off the desk, slamming on the floor beneath her and her eyes widened as she sat up in the chair in realization. "We can find Abby." Her mouth barely moved when she talked. 

"What?" Patty watched the blonde stand from the desk, dancing around it and running up to the second floor to her lab. The tallest of the three stared at Erin for a moment before they both headed for the staircase after her. 

"I don't know why I didn't think of it before!" Jillian mentally slapped herself when they reached the top step. 

"Think of what?" Erin wondered, annoyed at not getting an answer. Just in this moment, she remembered the dream she had earlier of them losing Abby and her heart began to panic.

"The ghost pagers." Holtzy turned around to smile at them while she proudly danced, walking backwards into her lab. 

"What about them?" Gilbert asked.

"I built each of them with an RFID, otherwise known as Radio Frequency Identification." She lifted her hands up over her head, pointing one at the other two. "Something you would know to be called a tracking device."

Patty and Erin smiled at each other before looking back to Jill, who finally turned around, walking forward again towards one of her tables in the room. She took one of the gadgets from it, one that looked much like a remote control to a television set or a large cell phone from the late 1980's. She looked down at the small screen on it and clicked a few buttons, signaling for it to find Abigail's specifically. 

As Holtzmann focused on her invention, Gilbert and Tolan jumped when they heard Kevin speaking from directly behind them. "What are we doing?" 

"Geez! You scared me to death, Kevin!" Erin exclaimed with a hand on her damp chest. She turned to see him standing there with a smile and his hands behind his back.

"Man, I thought you were downstairs taking a nap." Patty jumped in.

"I was, but now I'm awake."

"Thanks. We can see that." Tolan shook her head at the imbecile before looking back to Holtz. "Find her yet?" 

"Find who yet?" Kevin asked.

"Abby." Erin quietly answered, refusing to look back at him.

"Oooo, are we playing 'Hide and Seek?' 'Cause if so, you should know I'm a real pro at this." 

"No. We're not playing anything. Ghosts are invading the city and we believe Abby was taken by one in an attempt to bring a murderous demigod to life so he can rule over all of us and force us to serve him while we grovel at his feet like some mindless minions." Gilbert spoke with great aggression but she ignored the looks she received from both Holtz and Patty when she looked at the tracker in Jill's hand from afar.

"Did you hear that?" The only male in the room spoke again.

"Hear what?" Patty wondered with half an eye roll.

"That!" Kevin looked back and forth between the three ladies. "You don't hear that?"

"No." Holtz peeked up at him from the device just on time to see him do exactly what Abby did when she had been possessed by Zuul. Her eyes widened and she lifted her head some more, being the only one to have witnessed it. "Uh, guys I think I know where Vinz Clortho is."

"What do you mean?" Tolan asked. 

"What?" Erin squinted her eyes at the inventor. 

"The Keymaster." Jill reminded them.

"Yes?" Gilbert said.

"What about him?" Patty replied.

"He's right behind you." The blonde dramatically pointed to Kevin and when the other two slowly turned around to look at him, he wailed, much like Zuul only in a lower pitch, and flew off, crashing through the second floor window, causing a hefty wind to pick up as he left. The glass was strewn about and the women all stared at each other in fear.

"Oh, no." Erin said. "Now all he has to do his find Abby before us and meet at the secret spot in order to bring Gozer back."

"Too late!" Jillian yelled, looking down at the tracker. "We've got her!" 

"Yes! Let's go!" Erin shouted and they all left, heading for Central Park as fast as possible with the Ecto-mobile's siren blaring throughout the streets of the city.

When they arrived, they got out of their new vehicle, running through Sheep Meadow to the wide open space of grass that was surrounded by trees. 

"Um, hello." Holtzmann waved to Abby who stood beside Riley's ghost. "Nice to meet you, Zuul. I'm Dr. Jillian Holtzm-"

"Oh, I know who you are." Abby spoke for the Gatekeeper. 

"You do? Oh, good. Because I hate introductions." 

Patty looked at Holtz with a repulsed look that she was even interacting with this evil spirit and she obnoxiously nodded her head before looking back to Abigail. "Well, I love 'em and you should know that I'm here to kick some Gozer-"

"Oh, Patty. Always talking the talk, huh?"

"What?" Tolan's voice grew higher. 

"And Erin." Zuul looked to the frightened physicist. "Always forgetting what matters."

"I'm sorry, what?" Gilbert tightened her grip on the proton cannon in her hand. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Aw, Kevin." Patty whined when their receptionist finally arrived, flying down and landing on the grass beside Abigail and Riley. 

"Riley, why are you helping them?" Erin asked.

"Because they told me that they'd punish anyone who ever wronged me, including those teens that murdered me and separated Abby and I forever." The ghost in the middle spoke.

"And you believe that?" Holtz jumped in.

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?" 

"Oh, it's just....nevermind." The blonde turned to look at Erin and Patty with a strange laugh. 

"You have not changed a bit, Jill Pill." Riley floated closer to the three.

"Yeah? I can't really say the same about the fun-loving, weirdo I knew who used to love everyone and cared about nothing more than taking care of his fiancee." She opened her mouth, sticking out her tongue to touch the top corner of her upper lip.

"I AM taking care of her."

"Really? By letting some psychopath minion of the Devil possess her?" Patty added.

"Shh, don't make them angry." Erin whispered to Patricia as she stared at Kevin and Abby behind Riley. She nervously smiled and waved with a giggle. "Hi."

"Gozer is not the Devil." Riley interrupted. "Gozer will put this dreadful world to rest and soon, everyone will live in peace when it is rid of it's criminals and evil doers."

"Man, he sound just like Rowan." Tolan said to Erin.

"Sh!" Gilbert demanded.

"Well, you're wrong." Holtzmann spoke. "Demigods from Hell don't care about peace. They want destruction, anarchy." She looked to Patty and Erin. "Dare I say...apocalypse." It was like Rowan all over again...only worse.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Riley floated backwards, rejoining Vinz and Zuul in their possessed bodies. 

Patty began to speak. "No, YOU don't know-" The ground began to shake and they all heard a ringing in their ears. 

Soon, a booming voice was heard. "No more talking!"

"Gozer," Riley looked up and around, speaking to the voice, "...Master, where shall we continue?"

"The water." The demigod responded.

"Yes, Master." Riley floated a bit behind Abby and Kevin.

"Rye Bread, don't do this." The blonde with yellow-lensed goggles on begged.

"Man, you don't know what you're doin.'" Patty spoke.

"You don't know what will happen. Abby could die." Erin hated speaking those words. "How would that be showing love for her?" 

"Enough!" Gozer spoke in a surprisingly calm tone. "Riley, remember what we talked about."

"I can do it?" Abby's former fiance replied.

"They are slimed, aren't they?" Gozer asked.

"Well, only two are."

"That's good enough."

"That's, huh? What?" Gilbert's eyes widened and she looked to the other two as she swallowed hard.

"I don't, uh-" Jill began with a shake of her head. 

It wasn't too long before the short blonde was met with a slap in the face from Erin. "Whoa. Erin, why would you-" Patty started to question the brunette, but was soon shocked to see Holtzmann hit her back. "Guys, really?" 

The engineer out Erin in a headlock and Erin fought hard to get out of it. "It's not us." Holtzy grunted.

"I don't know what's happening." Gilbert added. 

Patty turned to see Riley laughing with his hands in the air and she shook her head. "Riley, come on, man." He continued to laugh. "Stop it. These two can't be fighting."

"Oh, but they can." 

"Man, that's your friend." She pointed to Holtzy. "And that other one is your fiancee's best friend. And the both of them love each other. Just like you and Abby loved each other. Don't make them fight." She asked of him. "How would you feel if you were supernaturally forced to beat up Abby? You wouldn't like it, would you?" 

He turned, looking at Zuul staring at the fight and remembered all the times he and Abby rough housed. The minute she was hurt he'd stop and make sure she was okay. Looking down he sighed and turned his gaze back to the fighting couple that had somehow, made their way to the grass. Erin kneeled over the blonde, holding her shoulders down before punching her in the face. After said punch, Jillian rolled over so she was on top and she pulled on Gilbert's ponytail. When the brunette screamed in pain, she reached up to pull Holtzy's hair that flopped in front of her face. 

Riley looked to Patty who waited for him to gain some sense and with a simple wave of his hand, the girls stopped. "Ahhh." Holtzmann winced in pain, getting off Erin and pulling her up to stand again. "You good?" 

Erin held one of her elbows and slightly nodded. "I'm fine."

"What do you think you are doing?" Gozer asked, a bit dumbfounded. 

"I'm not going to make them fight." Riley confessed. 

"Idiot! Get them to the water! The sooner I can rule, the more slaves I'll have."

"Slaves?" Riley looked up again. "You never said anything about-"

"Just...do it!" Gozer shouted. "Imbecile."

The apparition looked at Kevin, then over to Abby and he floated motionless for a moment. He looked to the three ghostbusters. "You ladies ready?" When they each seemed confused, he moved over to Abigail, taking in a deep breath. When he let it out, he forced his hand through Yates as if grabbing onto Zuul's soul and he ripped it out of her. When he let go of the Gatekeeper, Patty and Jillian shot at it with their proton packs. Riley floated over to Kevin, doing the same thing to Vinz Clortho and a disoriented Abby shot at him with Erin. 

"No!" Gozer yelled at Riley. "Traitor!" 

"You know what, do whatever you want with me." The ghost responded, yelling over the roar of the proton packs. "As long as you can't hurt them, I don't care!" 

"Holtzy!" Patty screamed. "Open a trap!" 

"I'll try!" Jillian, still holding on tight to her cannon with one hand, carefully moved the other hand to grab the mini containment unit from the clip of her tool belt. She threw it on the ground, putting her foot on the pedal. "Ready!?"

"Open it!" Patricia yelled again. 

The blonde pushed her weight onto one foot, opening the trap and she and Patty worked Zuul into it. "NO!" The voice of Gozer screamed.

"Patty! Holtzy! We could use some help over here!" Abigail yelled, she and Erin fighting with Vinz.

"I gotchu!" Patricia took out her own trap, doing the same that Holtzy did with hers and soon, the Keymaster was gone as well.

"Phew! There! Suck on that, Gozer!" Holtzmann yelled.

"Yeah, try comin' back NOW!" Tolan laughed, giving Holtzmann a high five. 

The ground shook one last time with Gozer's anger and when it stopped, Riley spoke. "He's gone. It's over." Erin and Jillian hugged while Patty pulled Abigail in for one as well. Erin pulled out of the hug with Jill and went to hug Patty. Abby and Holtzy did their secret handshake before Abby and Erin put their arms around each other's waists. "I'm so sorry." The ghost spoke, causing the smiles on all their faces to slowly fade. Abby walked up to him and they pretended to take each other's hands. Yates gave him a weak smile as she fought back tears. No words were spoken, though they both knew what the other was thinking. After the long stare, he looked passed her to Erin and Jillian. "Treasure each other."

Holtz looked to Erin, who only looked at Jill for a second before looking back to Riley. "Can you call off the rest of the ghosts?" 

"It is done." 

Patty looked up at the sky, seeing that there were no more ghosts flying around the city and she put an arm around Holtzy's shoulders.

"You ready?" Abby asked her fiance.

"Ready for what?" Erin wondered, seeing Riley nod.

Instead of answering, Abby took out her ghost trap and the other three suddenly realized what was happening. "Goodbye, Abby."

A single tear left the paranormal researcher's eye and all four ghostbusters shot at him, pulling him toward the trap. He was gone.


	43. Unwinding

Patty drove the Ecto-mobile by Riley's former apartment building just to check and see if things were doing alright and the rest of the ghosts had gone back to the right realm. When they saw that they had succeeded, they headed back to the station so everyone could get ready to go home. It was eerily quiet.

Holtzmann took the four ghost traps upstairs, hooking them up to the containment unit. Patricia slowly forced her aching body over to the line of massage chairs, plopping down in one of them. She did not hesitate to turn it on, kicking the feet up and closing her exhausted eyes. "Is it time to go home yet?" She mumbled.

"It is..." Kevin paused to look at the digital clock on his desk. "Three, oh ten."

"You mean 3:10." Erin corrected, moseying on over to the staircase. "I am taking a shower and resting for the rest of the day. My body cannot handle anymore right now."

Patty let out a pained chuckle. "You're tellin' me!"

Dr. Gilbert sent, a mute, Abigail a look of estrangement before ascending the stairs. Abby sat down in the chair at her desk, rubbing her forehead as if it would help rid the pain of the post possession headache. Kevin recognized the action, walking over to her and offering some aspirin. She sighed and shrugged, taking them with no drink. She took off her glasses afterward just to rub her sad, tired eyes. When she opened them, she saw that Kevin was still standing there. "That's why I take the lenses out." He softly grinned.

Yates couldn't help but let out a petite snicker with a shake of her head. "Thanks, Kevin."

"Need anything else, Boss?" He wondered with his hands behind his back.

"No, I'm-I'm good. You can go relax in one of the chairs if you want." She gestured toward the recliners.

"Only if you relax, too." He knew that they both must feel the same way, having been possessed. It was quite an unpleasant and unnatural feeling. It feels almost as if your soul had been shrunken in order to fit another and now there are empty spaces in your slightly hollow vessel while you wait for your soul to grow back to its proper size again. It's awkwardly tiring and in some ways, painful. Lord knows Abby wanted to refuse, but looking up at his sweet face and seeing him put a hand out to offer to help her stand, she couldn't resist.

After returning her glasses to her face, she took his hand and stood. He let her walk in front of him and followed her over to sit near, an already sleeping, Patty.

"Hey, Holtz?" Erin peeked into the lab upstairs.

"Yes, Slime Buddy?" Jillian joked.

Gilbert fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Are you gonna need help with the removal of the ectoplasm?"

"No, I-I think I can handle it myself." After engaging the last ghost trap into the containment unit, the slimy blonde walked over to the doorway to greet Erin.

"You sure? It's pretty tricky, you can't just get into the shower. It makes it worse, I've learned the hard way."

"Hm...Really?" Holtz squinted up at the taller woman, holding back a laugh. She reached up, pushing some of the slime on Erin's eyebrow to the side just in time before it would drip into the brunette's eye.

"Yeah. Come on. I'll show you what I've found works best." Gilbert awkwardly swallowed before turning and heading to their lockers to grab clean clothes and towels. While they grabbed their stuff, Erin talked her through it. "First, you take some baby powder...it's gonna be gross, but it works...and you just put it wherever there's slime. It'll get clumpy, but it'll be easier to just peel right off and, this is the most important part-" She stopped and made Jill look right at her. "...throw it away. Do not let it go down the drain or it will get clogged."

"So, that's why you have so much baby powder in your locker." Holtz laughed and caught a hostile look from the other woman, who then shut her locker. With wide eyes and an uncomfortable smile, Holtzmann shut her own locker as well, following Erin to the showers.

"Then after you think you've got all of it off and it's thrown away, you can hop in. One thing though, if you do find more, when you are done showering, get out, put on some more powder in just that area and then hop in to rinse off one more time." The brunette forced her to take one of the bottles of baby powder that was in her hand. "Here."

After a moment of strange eye contact, the shorter one began to speak. "Erin, I-"

"Not right now." She interrupted, knowing exactly where she was going with this. "I just need to get this slime off." Immediately, Erin left and headed to her own shower, not in the mood for anyone's explanation as to why she never knew about Abby's engagement.

Jillian tilted her head to the side in disappointment as she watched her frustrated girlfriend walk away from her before listening. Sighing, she brushed it off for now and began the difficult process of removing the ectoplasm.

When Holtz was finally able to get in the shower, she danced to a song in her head, but didn't sing remembering that Erin was just around the corner from her and would probably be able to hear. Normally she wouldn't care, but the former professor was in a bitter mood at the moment and Jillian expected her to grow even more annoyed at her routine quirkiness. After the great time they had the night before, Holtzmann had expected today to be easy and exciting, but it had been the opposite...strenuous and saddening.

When she was sure she had washed as much of the slime off as possible, she turned the water off and got out with the towel wrapped firmly around her body. She headed out, turning the corner and almost bumping into, a dripping wet, Erin. Both in their towels, both still warm from the steam, both blushing.

Erin kept her eyes down to her feet and Jillian stared at the woman's soaked hair. Clearing her throat, Holtzy darted around Gilbert with her own head down. Erin looked up when the blonde was gone and she sighed, staring at the back wall, clutching the towel even tighter to her body and swallowing hard before turning around to go into a bathroom stall to dry off and put her clothes on.

A/N: I know things have been slow lately. I'm terribly sorry. I have had a lot on my mind and things have been crazy at home. I seem to be taking care of the little sisters more than the parents so...ugh. I've been very stressed and tired and I am really, so very sorry for the long wait. I hope you can forgive me? And hopefully you leave some more reviews! I love you all! MWAH!


	44. Selfish

When Erin had finished changing, she left the stall half wondering if Holtz would be out there waiting for her and half hoping she wasn't. Her mind was all over the place at the moment and her stomach hadn't felt quite right since the moment Abby was possessed. She could feel a splitting headache coming on and she prayed she wasn't getting sick. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she relaxed her entire body, hoping it could calm her down a bit, but she was still very hurt and felt tears of frustration wanting to leave her eyes. She willed them to stay and reopened her eyes before realizing Holtzy had already gone downstairs without her. Though she didn't want the blonde to be outside the bathroom waiting for her, she was somewhat disappointed that she wasn't. Sighing, she grabbed her dirty, slime covered jumpsuit and threw it in the laundry bin near the lockers before heading down to the first floor to join the rest of the group. 

Stepping down the last wedge of the stairs, she turned to see that all but one of the massage chairs were taken. Holtzmann sat in one of the chairs on wheels across from the recliners. She slouched in the chair, only slightly turning in it rather than spinning around completely, like she usually would. 

Erin hesitated to make her presence known, stopping at the bottom of the staircase and deciding on whether or not to join them. Patty had woken up from her short nap and had Holtzy bring her one of the history books from her desk. As she sat in her recliner and read it, Abby sat beside her, fiddling with her own fingers in her lap. Kevin was snoring on the other side of Yates and Erin approached them, taking the open chair on the end next to him. She bit one of her fingernails as she gazed at Holtzmann. Her wet, blonde hair was pinned up and a bit messy as the engineer did not have her hair dryer in the station. She watched Jillian rotating in the chair before looking to Kevin on her left. His mouth was wide open and his head lulled back, facing the ceiling. She almost reached up to take off his glasses, but then remembered they had no lenses anyway and even if he did break them, it wouldn't make much of a difference.

Her eyes looked passed him to Abby, who was still looking down at her fidgeting hands. Feeling a heat wave climb in her already upset stomach, Gilbert finally broke the silence. "Um, Abby? Are you alright?"

The flustered woman kept her head at a downward angle, but she turned it just enough, looking over to Erin. Sighing, she looked back down and quietly spoke. "What? Don't I look alright?" She let out a contradictory chuckle. "We just had to put my fiance into a ghost trap." Though she was laughing, the other three knew it was to keep from crying. She finally lifted her head, looking at her high school friend again with a weak grin. "I, um...ha! I'll be okay." 

Patty had stopped reading the minute Erin spoke, but she stared down at her book until Abby finished answering the question. She looked over to the shorter woman on her right and gave her arm a light nudge. Once Abigail looked at Tolan, Tolan offered her a smile and she was given one in return. "We're here for you." 

"Thanks, Patty." Abby turned to look at Holtzmann, who had finally stopped turning in her chair. "And I never thanked you, Holtzy, for being there when everything happened."

Shaking her head no, the blonde leaned forward, resting an elbow on her own knee, and she replied. "It was my pleasure, Abby." She reached a hand in front of her, giving Yates a pat on the thigh. "Your Holtz Machine's got your back."

Erin watched as Abby gave the inventor a smile with tearful eyes. She hadn't a clue why, but a nasty case of envy met Dr. Gilbert right at home. She winced when Jillian and Abby held hands for a brief moment and after Holtzy pulled away, rolling her chair back a bit farther, she spoke. "So, uh...how come you never mentioned that you...got engaged?" 

Abby's small smile completely vanished, recognizing the familiar tone in her friend's voice as one she'd heard many times back in school. It was the sound of someone who felt left out. Sighing again, Yates attempted to answer. "I don't know. I just...it wasn't important."

"It wasn't important?" Gilbert unintentionally raised her voice, but spoke with somewhat of a rude grin. Kevin shook in his sleep between both women and Erin calmed down a bit, watching him as he started to snore again. She let out an awkward snicker before continuing. "Abby, you almost got married. And you didn't tell me. I'm your best friend."

"Well, you know now. I don't think it's really that big of a deal." Abby sat looking straight ahead at the wall passed Holtzy's head while Erin's body had fully turned in the chair to face her. 

"Well, it is." 

Dr. Yates shook her head with a small chuckle herself. "Gosh, I-To be honest, Erin I didn't think you'd care that much."

"Abby, that's ridiculous." 

"Is it?" 

"Yes, I-"

"Erin..." Holtzy began to speak, but was interrupted by the physicist.

"I can't believe you wouldn't tell me something that big. I was your best friend for-" 

"Oh, really? You were my best friend?" Yates finally snapped her head to the other woman, one tear falling down her cheek. "What best friend would abandon you? On public television, openly humiliating you in front of hundreds of people? What best friend wouldn't show up, with no explanation, no phone call? And most of all, what best friend would leave you alone in your crappy hometown to get bullied while they're off at some fancy school, living the dream...screwing up the plans we had together? Huh? You were my best friend? What kind of best friend would do that? If that's how best friends work than I'd rather not have one because that...that was one of the most horrible times of my life." Abby sniffled, forcing herself not to cry. "And do you know why?" The embarrassed, smug look on Erin's face got to her and she let two more tears fall before violently wiping them away. "Because you were the only person who ever stuck by me." Thinking about her next four words caused her to erupt and she stopped caring how many tears fell. "And you left too."

Watching her cry reminded Erin of many memories where the two would go to each other's houses, have very emotional discussions and cry together about being the 'weird' kids. She looked down, not wanting to see Yates cry anymore, but the sounds of her sobs added more and more to her guilt. But, the stubborn woman she was, she still refused to show her own fault. "I had a future to look forward to, Abby. I got into a great school. My parents were finally proud of me. What was I gonna do? Not go just because you weren't accepted?"

"Erin." Patty didn't want to jump in, but even she felt a stab of pain hearing that out of Gilbert's mouth.

Abby took off her glasses to wipe away some more tears. When she returned them to her face, she spoke again. "You know, you can be a real selfish jerk, sometimes." 

"Abby-" Erin started to respond, but this time she was interrupted.

"She's right, Erin." The room went silent again when they heard who spoke. Kevin had been awake for the past few seconds and when he heard who spoke, he opened his tired eyes to look at Holtzmann. The often quiet and observant engineer immediately felt uncomfortable after speaking up. 

"What?" The shocked particle physicist spoke.

"She-" Jill's voice cracked and she tried again. "She's right. You...you can be really selfish." When looking at the stern, but slightly hurt expression on the brunette's face, she tried to sort of soften the blow. "At...at times. You don't seem to think about how your actions may affect others." 

It grew silent again and Abby could tell she was about to get up and leave soon. "Anyway, maybe I didn't tell you about Riley because I was so happy you came back that it was the first time I stopped thinking about him since he died. Huh? Did you think about that?" She paused, seeing Erin's eyes drop to the floor once again. "No, you didn't. Because you were too busy wondering why I didn't include you in my life after you broke our promise. And what promise was that?"

As Abby finished her statement, Erin joined in at the end, slowly lifting her head as they spoke in unison. "Never to leave each other."

"Right." Yates had finally stopped crying and she took her glasses off to wipe away the last of her tears before placing them back over her face and smirking at the look of deep thought on Erin's.

Gilbert closed her eyes, realizing they were right and she thought of how difficult it must've been for Abs when she left. She wondered what it would've felt like if Abigail had ever left her and she knew she'd probably have acted the same way Yates did. Finally, the guilt caught up to her as well as the pain and she gave in to her emotions. "Oh, Abby Lou, I'm sorry." She threw herself over Kevin, wrapping her arms around the paranormal researcher and squeezing tightly.

Abigail couldn't help but let out a joyful laugh, recognizing her friend yet again. It was in and out with this older Erin Gilbert, but she knew that soon, the gang could get her old self back for good. Soon, it would be as if she never went to such a snooty school, becoming the different person she was. 

Patty and Holtzy smiled at each other, glad to see this didn't end horribly and Patricia patted Erin's hand that was still wrapped around Yates. 

"Well, this is a bit awkward." They heard Kevin saying, almost sandwiched between the two. 

Suddenly remembering he was even there, the two women released each other with small giggles and checked to see if Kevin was okay before they returned to their former positions in the recliners. "Sorry." Abby apologized to Beckman for having her right knee up in the chair and accidentally pushing it into his thigh while she and Erin hugged.

"Abby Lou?" Patty asked.

"Oh. Yeah, she used to call me that all the time in high school." 

"Why?" Tolan smiled.

"It's short for Louise." Gilbert answered with a grin. "Which is her middle name."

"Hey, well I'm glad y'all worked things out. I'ma go back to readin.'" 

"And I'ma go upstairs and work on my babies." Holtzmann stood from the chair, dramatically pushing it across the room and laughing when it hit one of the desks, tipping over afterward. She gave Abby a pat on the back while sending Erin a wink and she danced over to the staircase.

"Abby Louise?" Kevin said while she left.

"Yeah?" Yates replied.

"I like it." He smiled at her and she couldn't resist a smile back before sadly looking down. Gilbert stood up, sending Abigail one last smile before heading up after Holtzmann with something else on her mind. It wasn't until she took the first step up that she noticed her stomachache and headache had completely vanished and she happily ascended the stairs. When she left, Kevin reached for Abby's hand, remembering she had lost someone. She looked up to see him sending her another nice, contagious grin. "You still have us."


	45. Treasure Each Other

Several things ran through Erin's head as she made her way up to the second floor of the station. Two of the many emotions that eroded her mind were guilt and regret, of course. She remembered her behavior the last few months...years actually. Shaking her head she realized they were right. She had acted completely selfishly and she was more than determined to fix that. She knew that with the help of her newfound family, she would have no problem changing for the better. Family? It felt so strange being able to say that. 

The only family she'd ever had was her very critical parents and boy, did she and Abby fight like sisters. But now, she also had Patty, and Kevin, and they had befriended Agent Hawkins and Agent Roarke. She wouldn't exactly call them family, but they had become pretty good acquaintances. The same went for Ms. Jennifer Lynch in the mayor's office. She dropped in occasionally and they'd help her understand some of the things they did for work as well as obtaining legal advice from her. And there was some minor personal discussions between them as well. Erin considered them all a part of their friend group. Okay...they were sort of a part of the family. They were the distant cousins the family spoke to every now and then but were never close enough to to bring up in simple conversations. And of course, there was Holtzy. Just thinking about her being a part of her family gave Gilbert a violent case of butterflies. 

Making it up the last few steps, she put a strand of her wet hair behind her ear, hoping to not look nervous to the blonde when she entered her lab. Biting her bottom lip, she looked in on the quirky engineer. Jillian had yellow lensed glasses on, as usual, and she held a small circuit board up at eye level, examining it with a set of forceps. Like a spouse admiring their lover while they watched them do something they enjoyed, Erin looked down to the floor just for a moment, smiling and thinking about how important this woman was becoming to her. When she looked back up at her, Holtz had begun to slightly sway her hips as if listening to one of her songs and she continued to work. 

She turned to see Erin slowly making her way over to her and she set the circuit board and forceps down. She resumed her slight dancing and pushed her glasses up to her forehead. With a silent chuckle, she stopped and put a hand on her hip while the other one leaned against the table beside her. They just stood for a moment, gazing at each other and all Erin wanted to do was apologize for both her behavior and for the fact that she had tortured Holtzmann with the elongation to the start of their relationship. If only she hadn't been so timid and stubborn to realize her potential with Jillian. However, she decided to save the apologies for another day and let herself, not fall yet, but trip over her feelings for Holtzmann. The warmth in her face and the shaking in her throat told her that eventually she would fall...and she would fall fast and hard. 

Finally clearing her throat, she spoke. "Th-thank you."

Jillian smiled and let out a short laugh. "You're welcome. You're welcome." Laughing once more, she shook her head and her smile faded into a look of confusion. "For what?"

With a slight giggle, the particle physicist responded. "For telling the truth down there and putting me in my place. I, uh...I deserved it." She looked down, feeling for Abigail. "Abby didn't deserve what I did to her...at all. She was all I had and I-I was completely selfish. So, thank you for speaking up and helping me see that." She knew Holtz didn't really say much to her, but for some reason, hearing her own date pointing out her flaw so quickly changed her perspective. When Holtzy nodded and didn't say anything further, Gilbert continued. "I just want you to know that I will do my best to never do to you what I did to her. I-I promise." 

She paused to see Jill's face drop when her hand reached up to pull her glasses back down over her eyes. But before the brim rested on her nose, Erin stepped closer to her, their bodies almost touching, and she grabbed Holtzy's hands, taking the pair from her and folding them closed, slowly setting them on the table. Jillian watched her security blanket moving farther from her and she gulped, feeling Gilbert's hand on her chin. Erin turned the blonde's head to face her. "See I know we've only been on one date, but I, uh...I actually feel like it's been longer." When Holtzmann didn't respond, (due to her concentration being on the fact that they were so close to each other), Erin spoke again. "Don't you?" 

"Hm? What?" Jillian blinked, widening her eyes and finally remembering that they were supposed to be having a conversation right now. She replayed what she just said in her mind and remembered the question. "Oh, yeah. Actually, uhhh..." She grinned before opening her mouth and sliding her tongue to the side of her top lip. "I've been pretending we were together since that day in the subway. You know, where you almost died?" 

"Yes." Erin's head lulled back in annoyance, even though she couldn't help but smile, trying not to chuckle. "Why do you keep bringing that up?" 

Just NOW, Holtzmann noticed that they had been holding each other's hands ever since Erin took her glasses. Before answering, she squeezed the taller woman's hands harder and the expression on her face turned serious. "Because that was the day I saved your life." 

Almost instantly, Dr. Gilbert made an audible gasp, followed by a few loud coughs as she had begun to choke. As she bent over a bit, finishing her last few hacks, Holtzmann changed the positions in which their hands were, by intertwining their fingers. "You alright?" She wondered quietly. 

"Huh? Yeah. Yeah." Erin replied with a hoarse voice. She cleared her throat a few times and stood up straight before finding the capability to speak again. "Yeah, I'm good. Umm..." After nodding, she looked into Holtzy's sincere, soft blue eyes and the tone in the room returned to feeling intense and ardent. She briefly closed her own eyes, quietly blowing slow air out of her mouth. "Hoooo." Opening them again, she fully embraced the butterflies in her stomach. "What would I do without you?" 

"You won't ever have to find out." They stared down at each other's lips, leisurely moving their faces closer to the other's. "You know why?"

"Why?" The brunette said, a little too quickly.

"Because we're gonna do what Riley said." Holtz answered.

"And what's that?" Both of their voices had grown lower and softer. 

"Treasure each other." After Jillian spoke, Erin's eyes closed again, almost as if in relief and she let out a long sigh before their lips finally met for an intense and passionate kiss.

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%

A/N: I'm so sad to say that we've reached the end of the story. I really hope you enjoyed it and I'm just letting you know that this may be the end, but it is NOT the last chapter. I have an epilogue in mind, so I hope you stick around for that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for reading this and I really hope you leave lots and lots of reviews. If you have any prompts for another fic (it doesn't have to be Ghostbusters), I will gladly take them and think about writing them as well. Again, thank you and I'm sorry if you wanted more out of this fic. I was just trying to get to how they end up together and though it didn't have as much fluff as I, myself, would have hoped, I am still happy with it and I hope that you are too. I do need to take a small break from writing just so I can get things done around the house and stuff and maybe find a job. Also, I didn't want this story to be as long as it got and I sure do not want it any longer. So, I hope you still enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. These characters are so much fun to write for and I know that I will definitely come back to more GB fics in the future just because I love it too much not to. I wish all of you well and can't wait to see and hear more from you later. Love you! MWAH!


	46. Epilogue

*About two years later*

The Ghostbusters business had very slightly increased their amount of employees and to celebrate, Kevin, Patty, Abby, Erin, and Holtz had all gone to the place Erin and Holtzy spent their first date. After a night of some intense lazer tag and a game of paintball, they all headed out to get something to eat. Before they could make it to the restaurant, however, their ghost pagers went off. 

Their call was from a small club in downtown Brooklyn, where it was jazz night and halfway through open mic performances, an entity had attacked the singer and bassist (they all couldn't help but feel nostalgic for the first ghost they ever caught was during a concert). They met the three new busters there and got their equipment out of the Ecto-mobile. 

After entering the building, they looked around at the tables and chairs that had been strewn about the dining area. It was eerily quiet and warm. The dark red and blue lights that lit up the stage to create a sort of romantic mood caused Erin to smile at the woman walking a few steps ahead of her. Holtzy could feel the look she was getting and she sent the brunette a wink. Gilbert, with her proton canon in both hands, made a kissing face to the blonde and blew her an air smooch before turning her attention back to the bust. 

"Oh whoa." Abby said quietly as all eight of them stopped walking, continuing to look around. "Did you feel that?" She whispered, pointing out the sudden change of temperature as it had dropped about seven degrees. Everyone, besides Beckman, nodded.

"Feel what?" Kevin asked from near one of the bathrooms. He looked around at his colleagues, excited to finally be out on his fifth real bust. He ignored the fact that they only let him come along this time (without him begging) because he was already with them tonight. He sent Patty a weird grin before speaking. "Is it just me or did it suddenly get really cold in here?" 

Without answering Patricia shook her head and resumed walking toward the little stage in front of the club. "What class do we think this apparition is?" 22 year old Letty, a five foot, four inch tall redheaded student who was still attending Yale for her masters in ancient history wondered. 

"Well," Erin began, "...by the change of temperature in the air and the shockingly silent atmosphere, I'd put it at a-"

Just before she could finish, Abby and Holtzy spoke together. "T2 or T3."

"I'd say T2, because if it were a T3 our ears would be-" Yates was trying to continue, but the whole room felt their ears ringing and they all winced in pain. "Yupp. T3." She slightly shouted over the buzzing. 

"Oh, no." Nathan, a recent graduate of Harvard, was the newest of the recruitments and he wasn't quite sure he was ready for his first bust yet.

"You'll be fine, man." Jason, a former paranormal photographer gave the twenty eight year old a pat on the back before finishing the set up of his camera on the left side of the bar. 

"Shhh..." Holtzmann put a finger up, telling the group to be quiet. "Do you hear thaaaaat?" She asked dramatically.

They all listened up and heard the sound of a soft saxophone playing. "Holtz." Erin began, but she was shushed again. "Holtz!" She demanded the engineer listen to her, but she wouldn't.

It was quiet again as they listened to the song a bit longer. Jillian slowly turned around, looking to the new employees and her eyes widened. She mentally chuckled to herself when she noticed the 35 year old Jason, swallowing hard and gripping the button to his camera even tighter. "BOO!" She yelled and all three of them jumped as she clapped for herself and laughed. "I'm just playing. It's Erin's phone ringing." 

Dr. Gilbert gave her a playful slap on the arm and she quickly took her phone out of her pocket to answer it. "Hello?"

The new conductors of the metaphysical examination all let out sighs of relief and cleared their throats, embarrassed that they were fooled by the inventor.

"Daddy, now's not a good time." Erin spoke through the mouth piece on her phone. Her colleagues watched as she tried to argue with him to hang up. "Why are you bringing that up now?" Holtzmann turned around to watch Erin, knowing exactly what this was about after hearing the sadness in her voice. "Well, it IS a big deal...to me. I think it should be to you too." As Gilbert listened to her father's side of the conversation, her eyes widened, looking up and seeing the ghost forming behind Holtzy. "Uhhh..." She didn't want to interrupt her dad, nor did she really want to hear what he had to say either. She tapped Jillian on the hand and pointed behind her, making her aware of the apparition. The second the blonde turned around, the angry spirit picked her up and began to fly around the room. "Um, Daddy, I'm on a bust. I gotta go." She hung up the phone and yelled to the entity. "Drop her!" 

"Let her go, you piece of-" As Patty continued her sentence, she shot at the ghost just in time to drown out the cuss word. 

"Whooooaaaaa!" Jill overdramatized her reaction. "Patty, watch it!" She shouted as a stream of the proton pack flew right by her head, blowing her yellow hair back. 

"You won't get what you want throwing a tantrum!" Abigail screamed before shooting at the apparition as well. 

Jason had already taken eleven photos by now and he kept his fingers working as he took more. "That's it. Right there. You're doing good, sweetie." He smiled up at Holtzy, level with the ceiling, and yelled, "Hey, Holtzmann! How about some duck lips?" He laughed at himself and resumed what he was doing. "Beautiful!" 

"Jason!" Letty scolded him. "Now's not the time!" She turned and tried to shoot the ghost, but hit a light instead, causing sparks to fly from it.

"Uh, Erin!?" Holtzy yelled while being dragged around the room by her proton pack.

"What is it?" Gilbert shouted over the ruckus. 

"Your phone's ringing again! Aaahhhhh!" 

"What?" The particle physicist reached into her pocket, seeing that Jill was right. "How did she even hear-" Before she could finish asking herself the question, she answered the phone. "Daddy, I told you I can't talk right-" CRASH! Another light was hit and a few of the sparks grazed Holtzy's gloved hands. "Put her down!" Erin continued to yell, forgetting for a moment she was on the phone. "Oh, sorry." She apologized for the volume and her father continued to speak on the other end, though she couldn't hear him very well. 

Finally, the ghost let go of Holtzy and she landed on her back on top of one of the tables. "I'm good!" She notified the others as she slid off the table, her feet firmly hitting the floor. "Hey, Erin! Tell Mr. Gilbert I said that one of my adoptive uncles is a realtor too. They could have a lot to talk about!" She took out her mini proton pistols, aiming for the floating ghost.

"Did you catch that?" Erin asked her dad. "No, no! Don't put Mom on the-I gotta go!" She sighed, shooting with one hand now and ignoring the protests and orders she was receiving from Patty and Abby to just hang up. "Mom! Mom, we-" She ducked and ran for cover, jumping over the counter at the bar and hiding behind it. "I know, but can I call you back in about, uhhhh...forty five minutes?" A bottle was broken, the glass shattering on the bar and some of it raining over her. She crawled to another spot behind the counter. 

"Erin!?" Abigail screamed. "We could really use your help!" 

"I know! I-" She moved the phone from her ear, covering the mouth piece. "I'll be right there!"

"Hurry!" Jason shouted, ducking. He grabbed his camera from its tripod and ran to hide behind one of the tables, using it as a shield as he continued to take pictures of the events. 

"Mother, I have to go!" She peaked over the bar, seeing Nathan run into the bathroom. "No! Don't put Dad back on the-" She sat back down. "Daddy, I have to go." She turned to see Holtzy crawl behind the bar with her. Jumping, caught off guard a bit, Erin let out a small yelp. A sigh of relief when she saw that it was just Holtzmann immediately followed. She shook her head no with a pained look and Holtz put a hand out to take the phone from her. 

"Let-let me talk to them." The blonde tried to help.

"They won't even listen to me." Gilbert tried not to cry. 

"They will. Just-just give me the phone."

"No."

"Give me the phone, Erin." Jill's voice sounded a bit more stern.

"Fine!" The irritated woman practically threw the phone at her and she stood up, running around the counter to take some of her frustration out on the ghost. After a few shots at it, her stream finally wrapped around its transparent body. "You guys I got him! I got him!" She yelled and Abby, Patty, and Letty shot at it, their streams grabbing ahold of it too. 

"Kevin?" Abby yelled out, unsure of where he was at this point. "Kevin, we're gonna need you to-"

"Already on it!" The receptionist shouted, coming from backstage. He set down the ghost trap and attempted to open it, but failed at first. 

"Kevin!" Patty screamed at him. 

"Do it the way I showed you!" Yates said, focusing on the ghost, latched onto four proton streams.

"Oh, right." Beckman remembered and he opened it successfully, the trap sucking in the ghost for good and Jason ran over to close it. 

"Woooooo!" The photographer yelled. "That was awesome!" He did a small dance. "And I got it all on camera!" He continued his victory dance and the rest of the group turned to see a shaking Nathan come out from the bathroom.

"And where have YOU been?" Patricia asked, putting a hand on her hip.

"I was just-uhhh..." He nervously giggled. "I had to go to the bathroom." He lied.

"In the ladies' room?" Kevin asked and they all (except for Kevin and Erin) laughed.

Erin turned to see Holtzy stand up from behind the bar, the cell phone still up to her ear. They both walked toward each other, meeting in the middle. "Yes, sir." Jillian sounded disappointed and Erin took the phone from her hand.

"Daddy, please? We want both of you here." She paused, listening to him. "But Daddy, it's my wedding day." Another pause. "Don't you wanna walk your daughter down the aisle?" She felt the tears beginning to fill her eyes and Jillian took her other hand. 

Patty and Abby sadly looked at each other and Yates joined the couple. "Erin?" She whispered, lifting the distraught woman's chin. "Can I talk to him?" She could hear the yelling on the other end and Gilbert didn't care to listen anymore as she handed the cell to her high school best friend. Abby gladly took the phone and walked away from everyone, so all they could hear was, "Hello, Mr. Gilbert. It's Abby. You should really-"

Patty stepped closer to Erin and Holtzy as the blonde pulled the taller one into a tight hug. "Hey, man. It's alright." Tolan placed a comforting hand on Gilbert's back as she cried into her fiancee's shoulder. "They don't know what real love is anyway."

The three new busters stood a bit farther back, looking down and feeling for the couple. Jason took it upon himself to lead the two out to the car with the ghost trap and some of the equipment, including his photography equipment. Kevin actually did have to go to the bathroom and he stepped by Erin, Holtz, and Patty while the others left.

A few minutes passed and Abby returned with Erin's phone. Sniffling, the physicist took the device from her and placed it in her pocket. She looked down at Abby, who faked a look of sorrow, then said, "They're buying their flight ticket tomorrow morning."

Erin's face lit up. "What?!" She could tell by the excitement on Abby's face that she was telling the truth and she let out a loud gasp. "Thank you, Abs!" She pulled Yates in for a tight hug. "I don't know how you-" They pulled out of the embrace and Gilbert wiped away her tears. "They listen to you better than they listen to me." They laughed and she threw herself onto Holtzmann for a hug. 

"Man, what did you say to them? I thought they'd never budge?" Patty said as Kevin came out of the bathroom, joining them as well.

"Well, I told them that they wouldn't be her parents for long and they would regret missing their only daughter's wedding, whether it was to a man OR a woman." She, Patty, and Kevin all smiled at Holtz and Erin as they gave each other a slow, soft kiss. "Plus, I reminded them how long it's been since they've seen me." Abby threw in and she received a small nudge on the arm from Patty. "No, I'm kidding." She chuckled. "But I DID tell them that if they came they would also meet MY boyfriend." 

"You what?" Tolan's eyes widened when Abby turned her body to face Kevin who looked down at her with just as much shock as Patty did. 

"You really said that?" He asked her and she gently nodded.

"Yeah. I think I'm finally ready. Holtz and Erin are getting married, Patty and Agent Hawkins have been getting pretty friendly lately."

"Hey, we've only been on a few dates. Don't push it." Patricia jumped in.

"It's been almost four years since Riley died, I think it's time I finally move on." She grabbed both of Kevin's hands while looking into his eyes. "I really appreciate you being so patient and waiting for me to be ready." He had no clue what to say, so he just smiled down at her. 

"Whatchu waitin' for, man? Kiss the woman." Patty backed away before turning and heading for the exit with Holtz and Erin, who were holding hands. 

With an embarrassed giggle, Abby watched them leave before looking back up to him and getting ready for a kiss. Just before their lips touched, Kevin put up his pointer finger. "Hold on, I have an itch." 

"Uh-" Abby wasn't even sure how to respond as she watched him scratch his eye through the lense-less glasses and she couldn't help but shake her head with a grin. 

"Okay." He said when he was done. "Can I kiss you now?" 

She slightly nodded. "Yes, you can kiss me." They both leaned in, smiles plastered on their faces and their lips finally met. Feeling a flutter in her stomach, she heard Riley's voice in her head, 'Treasure each other.' 

Outside the club, Holtz and Erin stood on the sidewalk while Patty got into the driver's seat. Both of their eyes widened upon seeing Abby and Kevin holding hands when they walked out behind them. Jillian turned to look at Erin who soon turned to smile at her as well and they could read each other's minds. "It's about time." They both communicated through thought and they reveled in the ecstatic feeling of what it was to master this new kind of science called love.

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A/N: We made it! We have reached the very end! I really hope you enjoyed it. Please leave comments and reviews! Thank you all for reading this! I love you all! MWAH!


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